


The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince

by LadyTauriel



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Movie Fusion, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Female Merlin, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gender Issues, Genderbending, Internalized Homophobia, Internalized Misogyny, Romantic Angst, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Friendship, Slow Build, Transphobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-30
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-15 09:06:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 47,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2223333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyTauriel/pseuds/LadyTauriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur Pendragon, the handsome son of a wealthy hotelier family, is set in his bachelor lifestyle and does not believe in commitment. To avoid his family's constant pressure for him to marry, he decides to pay someone, Merlin, to pretend to be his gay partner. Trouble starts when Arthur begins to fall in love with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cup 1

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god, I'm finally doing it. I'm finally writing a fanfic AU of a Korean drama. Be prepared, everyone. I have about twenty five more dramas to go. Oh god, oh god.
> 
> This fanfiction is based _completely_ on the Korean drama [Coffee Prince](http://www.hulu.com/coffee-prince), which is undoubtedly one of my favourite Korean dramas ever. Each chapter corresponds with an episode of the show. The summary of my fanfic is credited to the summary of the series on [Hulu](http://www.hulu.com/coffee-prince). I hope this fanfic inspires you to watch it. Even if you haven't and aren't interested in doing so, please consider reading and reviewing my work. I hope all of you will be just as excited for reading it, as I was for writing it! I have to infinitely thank [Dramabeans](http://www.dramabeans.com/tag/coffee-prince/) for summarising Coffee Prince so perfectly for me, so that I didn't have to re-watch every single episode to write this.
> 
> Also, if you're turning away, because of the female Merlin, I urge you, I _beg_ you to give this work a chance. I hope that Merlin remains in character, even as a female. Her being female is crucial to the fic, but even with a different gender, she is still the same person as the male Merlin we all know and love.

Merlin didn't want to be working right now, but she didn't have a choice. Though it was almost nine in the morning, but her disorganised thoughts and growing headache made it feel like five, instead. She had spent the evening cleaning her martial arts studio for the minimal extra pay, and now she could barely keep her eyes open, which was dangerous for someone on a motorcycle. 

Her first noodle delivery was to some posh haughty man named Arthur Pendragon, who had drawled out his order over the phone like a disinterested and ungrateful prat. Despite only being half awake, she made his neighbourhood without any accidents. His flat was on the better-off side of Camelot, and it seemed like its was worlds away from the street on which Merlin herself lived. 

Not bothering to take her helmet off, she trudged up the stairs of Pendragon's building with noodles in hand. Even though it was about ten stories up, Merlin had been trained by her boss that elevators were a waste of time if you had to wait for them, and especially if there were an accident that, God forbid, slowed down the delivery. 

By the time she arrived at Pendragon's door, she had to bend over and gulp down air to stop herself from lying down at the foot of the flat to rest. She could imagine the confusion and worry it would cause if someone, maybe even Pendragon, found her crashed on his doorstep. She propped her herself up with one hand on her knee and knocked weakly at his door. "Special noodle delivery for Arthur Pendragon," she yelled around her hoarse throat and choked breaths. 

"It's open," a voice called from inside. She turned the doorknob and trudged in, stopping in her tracks immediately as she was greeted by the sight in front of her. 

Arthur Pendragon, who happened to be a tantalisingly well-built blonde, was sitting on his sofa in nothing but a towel. The towel did absolutely nothing to cover his private bits, though, since Pendragon had one leg propped up on the coffee table in front of him, diligently clipping his toenails. What Merlin saw inside that towel made her jaw almost drop. It took her a full longer than a few seconds to avert her eyes and shut the eye gear of her helmet over them. It didn't help her flushed face and unbearable embarrassment that the man seemed to have caught her reaction, smirking slightly. 

"One box of noodles for you," she grumbled, setting it on the coffee table, before turning around and fleeing. Why did weird things always happen to Merlin during her work? 

When she stepped outside of the building, thanking the cool breeze for relieving her flushed skin even through her helmet, she herd her mobile ring. Merlin pulled it out of her back pocket and flipped it open, expecting another noodle delivery call, only to see that Freya was calling her. 

"Yes?" she responded warily after picking up. 

_"Merlin, honey, Percival is bothering me again!"_ her sister whined over the phone. _"He won't believe me that I have a boyfriend, until he_ actually _sees you!"_

"I'm working, Freya," Merlin said, rolling her eyes. She could hear a male voice, deeper than hers or Freya's, in the background on the other end of the call. Merlin couldn't distinguish the words, but it the man's protesting tone was obvious. He didn't sound to happy about Freya having a boyfriend. 

_"But when you're done delivering, could you please come to the Coffee Prince?"_ Freya begged. _"Please, please, please! I need you!"_

"Fine," Merlin growled, hanging up. She had had enough of Freya pulling Merlin into her schemes and making her play the role of boyfriend for a lifetime. Merlin wished Freya could get rid of it without Merlin's help, but from Freya and some of her mates at school had told her, trying to get men to understand the meaning of the word 'no' was an easier concept in theory than in practice, and that another man's claim on a woman was always more effective than the woman's own words. Which Merlin found disgusting and extremely unprogressive in terms of feminism of the twenty first century, but she had to dedicate her time to earning the meager pay that several jobs brought her, not try to battle the United Kingdom's misogyny. God knew that she had to start from herself first, if she was going to change anything, but she didn't even know where to begin. So for now Merlin continued to come to Freya's rescue. And anyways, but it was hilarious to watch all of her sister's suitors eventually fall at Merlin's feet. 

She arrived at the Coffee Prince forty five minutes later, where Percival, a burly and muscular man of pretty impressive height, was still trying to win over the heart of an unimpressed-looking Freya. 

"Why do you think you can bother her, huh?" Merlin asked him as she approached their table, vamping up her tone with possessiveness. She wasn't much of an actor, but Percival fell for it. His eyes widened in surprise. 

" _You_?" Percival stuttered, looking over Merlin's short and skinny frame. "You're her boyfriend? But you're a wimp!" 

"Oh, I'm a wimp now?" Merlin asked, crossing her arms. "You wanna see about that? You wanna go? I wanna go. I have a proposal for a challenge for you, actually." 

"Bring it on!" Percival said, banging his abnormally huge hand on the table. 

"An eating competition," Merlin stated, already pulling noodle boxes out of her bag. "Five bowls of noodles, me and you. The first person to finish them wins. The loser pays with money, pride, and the girl." 

"Hey, I'm not an object!" Freya protested, but Merlin sent her a dirty look. That was the _point_ , for goodness' sake: Merlin was trying to be tough, unsophisticated, and macho to 'win her over' and save her from being pursued by this giant oaf. 

"You think you're gonna win, do you now?" Percival growled, opening his first box. 

"Hey!" Merlin shouted, pointing at him, clambering into the table booth next to a disgusted looking Freya. "We start on three. Freya, count us off." 

"One…” Freya began in anticipation. “Two... Three!" Merlin was eating. Eating was one of the things she did best. She had a never-ending appetite, probably because she ran around working her multiple jobs, all day, everyday. She always wondered why she never gained any wait from it, but even if she had, she wouldn't have cared. It wasn't like she needed to wear dresses with thin waistlines to impress anyone. 

She finished her first box of noodles before Percival, who started to look panicked. He tried to eat faster, but that apparently made him feel disgusted and probably nauseous, judging by the expression on his face. As for Merlin, she simply kept stuffing noodles into her mouth and swallowing, making sure to drink the stew, as well. They were pretty good noodles, too, so she probably wasn't going to feel sick for a while. 

She started her fifth bowl, with Percival was just finishing his third. This was too boring for her. Needing to mix this competition up a little, she grabbed the cup of unfinished yogurt from the table. Probably Freya's, who had already fled the table in disgust. Merlin poured the yogurt into her own bowl, mixing it around. It didn't ruin the flavour too much, but it did ruin it for Percival, who wasn't even eating anymore. With a glance at Merlin, he stopped chewing and dashed from the booth in the direction of the bathroom. 

Merlin stopped eating then, leaning back with a satisfied smirk. This is what she would consider a happy moment in her life, when she wasn't delivering or working at the mixed martial arts studio. Obviously, she didn't _have_ to choose the life of the poor breadwinner who had to job hop without much hope for the future, but she couldn't just abandon her mother and sister without hating herself, especially since the two of them were so tight on money right now. Since Freya was still in school, and Hunith wasn’t exactly self-sufficient, but _was_ a gambling alcoholic, Merlin was the only one who could work for the money. They were desperately in need of it. Somehow, and the 'how' part still eluded her, Merlin needed to pay for Freya's school fees, the impending necessary ten thousand pound flat deposit, and some woman's expensive ring that Merlin's mother had lost. If Merlin weren't there with them, Hunith and Freya would have probably been out on the streets by now. 

Since she wasn't actually an idiot, Merlin knew that she wouldn't be able to get that much money from minimum wage jobs, even if she worked several. Her current plan to get a loan somewhere, somehow, from someone, that wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass for not being able to pay everything back right away. She had tried asking around with some coworkers at her jobs, but they were all trying to make ends meet, just like her. Maybe it was time to admit that she was thoroughly and royally fucked. 

On her way home from delivering at the end of the day, all she could think of was falling back into bed. Merlin didn't need anymore frustrating deliveries or calls or requests, and she especially didn't need some kind of traumatic accident to happen in front of her very eyes. But her being Merlin, with fate having it so that she was always playing the hero who rushed in to save the day, a traumatic accident was practically exactly what happened. 

As she drove down a dimly lit street on her motorbike, Merlin saw a hunky guy pass a strolling couple on his own motorcycle, snatching the woman's purse in the process. They both exploded in a litany of angry curses and protests before running after the guy as fast as they could. It was futile: they wouldn't get anywhere on foot. Merlin sighed, cursing under her nose her jinxed wishes for just one night of peace, and sped after the thief at top speed. Since she had still been in motion ahead of the man when he started speeding away in her direction, she caught up with him in a matter of seconds, ramming her scooter dangerously into the man's. They both skidded to a stop and flew off and a distance away from their crashed motorbikes. Merlin rolled over several times as she hit the pavement with a groan. Most of the pain was caused by the air leaving her body for a couple of seconds, but she could tell that nothing was broken. This could have led to a real accident, Merlin knew, but this man was a thief, and Merlin couldn't just let him get away while knowing that she could have helped. Maybe, just _maybe_ , some of his injuries would be justified. 

"Give the purse back, you prick!" she shouted, jumping to her feet and swaying only for a second before stumbling over to man, who was also getting up to his feet. When he lifted his head, Merlin's eyes widened in shock. It was Percival, Freya's admirer from Coffee Prince. 

"You?" he asked in surprise, his voice tingling with tentative hope, probably of Merlin letting him off the hook. 

"Yeah, me," Merlin growled. "Why are you stealing purses, punk?" 

"I was gonna use to money to pay for Freya's school fees!" he said defensively. Merlin couldn't help but soften a little at the words, at the passion behind them. She herself would never resort to stealing, but maybe that was because she didn't know what it was like to live in the darkest world yet, where stealing was something people had to do to survive. Maybe Percy lived that life even more so than Merlin and Freya and had to resort to the immorality of stealing to survive. But no matter how important it was, Freya's education was not about survival, and especially not Percy's. Merlin couldn't tolerate stealing; if Percy was a thief already, it definitely meant that Freya shouldn't be dating him. 

"I won't turn you in, but I won't let you take the purse," she told him. "And if I ever catch you stealing again, I will beat the living daylights out of you. And don't even try to get past a ten kilometre radius around Freya, or something even worse will happen. Got it?" 

"Fine," he muttered, handing back the purse. "I'm sorry. I won't steal again." 

At that moment, however, the couple came into view. Letting Percy go was becoming exponentially difficult with every second. 

"Push me away roughly and run," Merlin hissed at Percy under her breath, trying to stop the couple from recognizing what was going on. 

"What?" he asked in confusion. 

"Just do it," she commanded. Percival complied, pushing her away roughy. Merlin gave out a cry and followed him at a jog, eventually stopping and scratching her head in a lost-looking way. She turned, heading back to the couple. When she was close enough to see her faces, she couldn't stop a wary groan, full of "fuck _me_ " feeling, from escaping her throat. The couple just so happened to consist of Arthur Pendragon - what a _wonderful_ coincidence - and a beautiful, sun-kissed woman, with auburn locks and a prominent collarbone. Merlin stopped in her tracks once again, handing the purse back after a moment. 

"Thank you so much," the woman said kindly, a genuine smile on her face. "You did a really brave thing, following large, powerful-looking man like that." 

"It's not problem," Merlin muttered, returning to her motorbike, which was lying next to Percival's on the ground. She tried getting on and revving the engine, but it wouldn't cooperate. She kicked its side in frustration, swearing under her breath. It wasn't her own motorbike: it had been lended to her at the workplace. Now it was broken, and her meager savings answered the question of how she was going to pay for its repairs: she wasn't going to. 

"Hey, you," Arthur said in a low tone, approaching her. "If your intentions were to convince me that this was all a con, you've succeeded. Don't deny it; I saw the way you were whispering with the thief. Now, I'm not going to ask you about why you let him escape, or about the relationship you have with him. All that matters is that you managed to retrieve Gwen's purse. I have you to thank for that. Here's my card; you can call me about reimbursement for your bike. And you better hope I never accidentally discover that it had been _your_ plan to steal it, too." 

Merlin accepted it, looking up at Arthur. Their eyes met, but she couldn't detect any recognition in the man's blue-grey eyes. Thank god for small miracles. 

"I had no intention of stealing it," she grumbled by way of thanks, taking the card out of his hands. Without waiting for him to reply, she turned away to pick up her uncooperative bike. It was a long trudge home. 

It didn't matter that she now had a way to pay for the broken motorbike. When she called in the next morning, explaining why she couldn't do deliveries that day, she was still fired. 

~ 

Lancelot was reading the newspaper on his patio, when he heard the shuffle of feet outside his gate. It was probably the neighbourhood milk deliverer, he knew, even though Lance had never met him before. He always came by too early in the morning for Lance to yet be awake, and only once did he catch a glimpse of a young man riding away on a bicycle before turning the corner of the street. 

"Hi, sweetie," he heard a cooing voice from behind the fence, presumably to his sheepdog, Knight. "You're a good girl, aren't you? A wonderful dog. An amazing dog, am I right? Am I right? You're such a great girl." 

Lance bit back a laugh, shaking his head in amusement. If Knight could understand human speech, he'd probably be offended at the deliverer accidentally misgendering him. He turned around, watching as delicate hands from underneath the gate doors pet Knight, who was lounging around in bliss at the attention. 

"Merlin would stay around and chat with you like a proper big sister, but she has to go do deliveries right now, okay?" the deliverer said, petting Knight's tummy one final time, before getting up and walking away. A woman, then, not the young man Lance had mistaken her for. It seemed like he had done dis own share of unintentional misgendering. 

After a few moments of contemplation, Lance got up, running outside the gates. Merlin was already driving away, however, having left only a small carton of milk in her wake. 

~ 

Merlin ended up stumbling across a hiring wine bar; she applied for it and incessantly called the place until she got the job a few days later. That was the upside of things, but the downside was that it required her to wear heels and a long skirt, which were part of the female worker's required uniform. Those were definitely not articles of clothing that Merlin knew how to operate. 

Her first evening on the job didn't go more eventful than her usual day, with topsy turvy circumstances that always made her life buzz with a sad sort of excitement. If was as if most of the best times that she had to look back on were the failures that weren't _too_ drastic, but that still caused her and others to laugh at her from being so dysfunctional. Today that meant having difficulty navigating her way through the thin isles of the bar while holding two trays of wine bottles and glasses, without wobbling or falling or stepping on anyone's feet. She managed for the first few hours before finally toppling over several times, thankfully without having anything in her hands. Tired and frustrated, feelings she was well-acquainted with, she went outside to get a breath of fresh air, making herself useful by polishing a wine glass. As soon as she stepped outside and took a step to her left, she ran into someone's solid figure, almost toppling over once again. 

"Woah woah, are you okay?" the man asked, catching her shoulders and lowering his face to look into her eyes with concern. Merlin felt ready to swoon again: he was the ideal model of the "tall, dark, and handsome" type, and the person he was currently looking at with such warm eyes was Merlin. _Merlin_ , of all people. 

"Yeah, I'm great," she responded, trying to think of an excuse for not stepping out of his grip. 

"Wait, aren't you the milk delivery girl?" he asked suddenly. "You stopped by my house the other day. You pet my dog, Knight. He really loves you, you know. I even think he misses you by the end of the day, in anticipation for the morning." 

"Oh, does he?" Merlin asked awkwardly, blushing. She had always been so sure that the affectionate sheepdog was a girl. And here Knight was, a gentleman. It seemed she fell to the mistake of making the same incorrect assumptions of gender that people made about her. "Yeah, I'm Merlin Emrys." 

"I'm Lancelot du Lac, though I simply go by Lance," he said agreeably, gently letting go of her shoulders to extend a hand and offer a smile. Merlin's upper arms burned with the feeling of Lancelot's palms imprinted upon her skin through her dress sleeves, as if she had touched fire. Still, she managed to extend her own fingers into his warm clasp without trembling from the adrenaline. When he let go, the comfortable silence that fell on their introductions was to welcoming and accepting for her to bear. If she stood here any longer, her heart and mind would never be able to escape the cocoon of kindness and acceptance that Lance had somehow already formed around her. 

"You know, I have to go work now, but maybe I'll see you later around the neighbourhood?" she asked nervously. 

"Maybe so," he agreed with a laugh. With a final smile, Merlin made her way back to the restaurant, her thoughts lingering on her short first impression of Lance. It got her through the evening shift, and she only had to force herself to take her mind off of him when she returned home. There, there lied a constant reminder of the debts and fees, which only kept piling up. 

Merlin really didn't want to ask Arthur Pendragon for his money, since he had acted like a royal prat and would probably only treat her with more disrespect if she turned to him with monetary needs. Merlin didn't want to admit that she needed him. She wouldn't need to pay for the motorbike repairs right away, since her old boss had told her to just keep it and use the salary she was supposed to receive that month to pay for a new one for the company. However, she could ask Arthur for reimbursement, but instead of wasting it on the motorbike, since she already had that covered, using it to pay for the stupid ring that her mother had lost. 

But still, asking the prat for money would mean losing all of her pride completely, which was probably something Arthur himself treasured dearly. Her pride should be more important than money. But at the end of the day pride didn't feed her family. 

The next morning, she appeared at Arthur's doorstep once again. He answered the door in a bathrobe, but it covered his body nicely, making sure that Merlin wouldn't see any of those family jewels this time. 

"What's your name?" he asked, seeing that it was her. His wide shoulders blocked the doorway, not letting Merlin through. 

"Merlin Emrys," she responded warily. 

"You know, you're a very feminine man, Merlin," Arthur commented, crossing his arms. 

"And you're a very judgemental man," Merlin pointed out in annoyance, not bothering to correct his mistake. She didn't see herself getting close with Arthur in any future whatsoever, and she didn't particularly want to, so Arthur was just another stranger to her. And telling every single stranger that she was a girl was too much of a hassle, especially since some people actually questioned her honesty when she told them that she was female. Besides, she didn't really care enough about gender people perceived her to be. She didn't exactly need people to see her as female, either, since she didn't identify with any of her gender's characteristics. "It's the twenty first century, and I can be as feminine as I like." 

"Very well," he conceded, allowing her entrance. "Why are you here?" 

"Why am I here?" Merlin sputtered, frowning. "Your compensation for my bike, obviously." 

"You know, I've changed my mind about that," Arthur told her absently. "You're either a conman or a thief, but what's the difference? You probably just want to steal my money." 

"Are you insane?" she shouted. "I wouldn't ask for your money, unless I absolutely needed it, which I do! Work with me here!" 

"I refuse," Arthur said, an obvious smirk playing on his lips. He was laughing at Merlin, who was actually suffering. Was it just because she seemed happy-go-lucky that he didn't believe her? That rich, self-conceited prat. 

Grabbing the purse that lied on the table, Merlin began whacking it as hard as possible at Arthur's shoulder. She didn't want to attack him with actual punches or kicks, since that would lead to a full blown fight, which wasn't her goal. She just needed to bully Arthur a little into agreeing. 

"Are you completely out of your mind?!" Arthur yelled, dodging one of blows and going for her legs. She took him down to the ground before he got the chance to knock her down first, but his weight caught her off guard, and she fell down with him, landing on his chest. 

All of the commotion had undoubtedly been enough to wake anyone in this flat and several times overs. It had apparently alerted the skinny, modelesque young woman in Arthur's bedroom, who ran out from down the hall in a short bathrobe. Seeing Merlin lying on top of a half-naked Arthur, she screamed a shrill scream, covering her mouth in horror. 

"Arthur, how could you?!" she shouted, sounding both angry and distressed. "And with a man, too!" 

Grabbing her purse and things, she fled the apartment in tears. 

"Who was that?" Merlin asked, sitting up. 

"Just some girl," Arthur said with the wave of a hand. "Listen, Merlin, is there actually something wrong with you? You can't just attack someone like that. I think your parents didn't raise you correctly, since-" 

"Hey!" Merlin shouted, pointing a finger at him. "You can insult me all you want, but you can't insult my family, got it? Apologise this instant!" 

Arthur didn't respond, simply leaving the room to enter his own. He closed and locked it, but that didn't stop Merlin from knocking like crazy. 

"Apologise, you prat!" she shouted, banging on the door. "I won't leave you alone until you do!" She stuck to her word, incessantly knocking as obnoxiously as possible despite the pain that was growing in the knuckles of both of her hands. 

"You're going to follow me to my blind date, then?" Arthur asked, emerging from the room ten minutes later in an immaculate suit and tie. Merlin didn't have time to appreciate it, however, since she was too busy fuming. 

Arthur wasn't joking about the blind date. Merlin followed him all the way to the restaurant near his home. Luckily, Arthur’s destination was within walking distance, since he probably wouldn't let her get into his car. All the way there, she pestered him for an apology. She was perfectly aware of the fact that she probably didn’t have the maturity to let the matter drop, even if she tried. The lack of financial support from her mother wouldn't make many people proud, but Hunith loved her, and her father had, too. She couldn't let just anybody insult that. 

Merlin lounged around at one of the booths, waiting as Arthur met with a weird woman, who chatted on about her pet rats the entire time. Merlin didn't want to intrude on their date, since that would probably lead to Arthur asking for her to be kicked out of the building. When the woman eventually left, however, Merlin went right back to business of demanding an apology. 

But as it turned out, Arthur wasn't meeting with just one woman. A second one showed up after that, picking her nose, and a third one showed up after her, burping too loudly after she ate. The fourth accidentally kicked Arthur in the balls from swinging her feet too enthusiastically. The fifth woman sang an opera piece, and the sixth just happened to be really... really... ugly. Merlin felt sorry for her, but there was no way around it. Her face was drastically asymmetrical, and she didn't carry herself in any way that made up for it. 

Quite frankly, a string of six blind dates seemed to wear them both out. Especially Merlin, who had dedicated most of her time from the third woman onwards on making posters that screamed, in bold, 'Apologise, you prat!'. She held them on the other side of the window in front of Arthur's table. It brought her attention to the woman, who looked incredibly startled, but Arthur didn't even bat an eye. 

After the sixth woman left, Merlin ran inside, following Arthur into the men's room. 

"You need to apologise, and you need to pay me back for my bike," she demanded. 

"Merlin, don't ruin my good mood," Arthur sing-songed whilst taking a leak. "I’m celebrating. Did you see how completely... not my or anyone's type those women were? I'll have an excuse not to like every single one of them!" 

"So you don't want to get a girlfriend, then?" Merlin asked, confused. "What, are you actually gay?" 

Arthur froze, turning around slowly. The intensity in his eyes unsettled Merlin, but she met his gaze head on. 

"Merlin," he began seriously. "Would you like to be my gay boyfriend?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is currently unbeta-ed. I don't have a beta at the moment, so if you're interested in beta-ing this fic for me or doing a beta-ing exchange, please let me know.


	2. Cup 2

"Excuse me?" Merlin asked, stumped. That definitely wasn't what she was expecting from Arthur. 

"Do you want to act as my boyfriend?" he repeated, clarifying. "It's a win-win situation, really. My sister and mother constantly pressure me to go on blind dates, choose a girl, get married; they feel like I'm doing nothing with my life. Of course I don't want any of these things, but telling them that is easier said than done. But you see, if I have a boyfriend, who 'accidentally' showed up to my dates, none of the women I'm set up with would be able to hope for a relationship in the future. They won't be able to confess to their hopes and dreams about being with me to my mother when she calls them later to ask how it went. And I'm sure they won't mention the bit about me being gay, either, since that would only cause them undue embarrassment. 

"You, Merlin, quite obviously need some money, but I'm not willing to give it to you for no reason. I don't trust you enough for that; I'm still convinced that you are somehow involved with that thief from earlier, so I don't want just any money to fall into your hands. However, you'll get that money if you play the part of my boyfriend. That way, you'll be getting paid for performing an actual job." 

Merlin took a moment to mull over Arthur's plan. If all he needed her to do was show up to the dates, she figured she wouldn't mind doing it, as long as she would be getting the money. 

"Fine," she agreed. "One hundred pounds per date is my price." 

" _Mer_ lin," Arthur protested. "I'm not going to pay you one hundred pounds per date. I can do twenty." 

"Twenty?" Merlin exclaimed. "That's not even comparable to one hundred. How am I supposed to make any money off of you?" 

"Those are my problems, not yours," Arthur commented, looking quite smug. "If you have a better plan for getting the money for the bike, you can tell me." 

"You're such a goddamn prat," she muttered. "Fine! Twenty pounds per date, but that means you have to pay for everything else. All the clothes, food, and touches to any part of my body. That includes face, shoulder, waist, etc.. And I need some kind of advanced payment to work with. The reason I'm going through all of this, is because, like you've guessed, I need money." 

"You're a greedy guy, aren't you Merlin?" Arthur asked, taking out his checkbook. 

"Yes, I'm aware," she responded. "I'd like five hundred pounds in advanced payment." 

"Five hundred pounds?" Arthur asked indignantly. "You really don't think that I'm going to touch you that much, do you?" 

"Would you like to make it a thousand?" she asked seriously. 

"Would you like to stop bargaining with me and make it three hundred?" he snapped back. 

"Fine, three hundred it is," she responded. Arthur made out a check to her whilst grumbling something under his nose. Merlin didn't care that she'd have to play the role of the boyfriend for this goddamn prat. It was just business, anyways. 

Merlin had a stroke of luck, finally, when she ran into Lance on her way home from work at the restaurant that day. 

"Well, if it isn't our busy young lady," he said not unkindly from where he was sitting at a table in the neighbourhood park, as Merlin approached him. 

"I'm not that young," she responded indignantly. "I'm already twenty four. I guess my masculinity makes me look younger." 

"A little bit, I guess," Lancelot confessed. "I would have assumed that you're still in secondary school, but you work during school hours. I wouldn't go out of my way to talk to a secondary scholar, just so you know. Still, your twenty four is young in comparison to my thirty one." 

"Thirty one?" Merlin asked in a surprise, looking down in embarrassment. "Yeah, that's quite a large difference. I probably wouldn't bother you with my small talk, if I knew." 

"It's no problem," Lance assured her. "I like being your distraction from work. I imagine you have quite a few jobs?" 

"I do, but even that isn't enough," Merlin confessed. It felt quite strange to talk about this, since she didn't usually enjoy spilling her life story to strangers. "Recently, I've been going through the internal battle of money and pride, pride and money. I hate taking money from strangers, but sometimes I have to." 

"How is that going for you?" Lance asked. 

"Well, I got another job on the side, which promises to pay me quite well," she confessed. "But still, when I think about begging for loans, I have to fight an actual battle. I feel like both money and pride are trying to tear me in two, or at least swing me painfully over to one of their sides. Have you ever experienced something like that?" 

"Well," Lance began, looking away from her and up at the sky. "I have a friend that..." 

When he didn't continue, Merlin prodded his shoulder with hers. "That...?" 

"He once loved a woman, very much, but she left him two years ago," Lance said quietly. "But she's returned now, and wants to start over with him. Sometimes, he feels like waiting at her doorstep with open arms. On other days, he can barely stand the idea of seeing her face again.” 

"Does he still love her?" Merlin asked gently. 

"He's not sure about that yet," Lance confessed. 

~ 

When Lancelot returned home, he found Gwen waiting for him in front of his front yard gate. 

"Lance, I broke up with Agravaine," she said desperately, running up to him and placing her hands on his shoulders gingerly. 

"I know," he bit out, pushing her side. "You're quite famous. I read about it in the papers." 

"I've been regretting leaving you for awhile now," she begged. "I've returned, and I don't want to go back. I want to start over with you. Please, I want it more than anything." 

Lance shot her with a cold stare, brushing past her and closing the gate door in her face. She didn't walk away, and neither did he. Merlin felt about her financial problems the way Lancelot felt about Guinevere Coulby. When they were together, he felt the need to rebel against what she made him feel. When they were apart, he couldn't help but think back to all the happy moments of their lives that had led up to the point, when she had decided to pack up for the states with some other painter. 

He opened the door again, pulling Gwen to him for a searing kiss. She complied eagerly, so he pulled her backwards, towards the house. He felt ashamed of himself for giving in, for letting her play the strings of his heart, like they were her paintbrushes. However, he was used to feeling it. This conflict, this burning passion, and this shame. 

By morning, the shame didn't disappear. Lance left Gwen's sleeping form in the bed, retreating to his patio for fresh air to clear his thoughts. Once again, he had succumbed to this, to Gwen, with her tantalising beauty and unearthly kindness. There was nothing mocking about her, just genuine feeling that she acted upon. However, since her genuine feelings often pierced through Lance's heart, they were part of the problem. 

"What are you thinking about?" she asked from behind him. He had been too lost in thought to notice her arrival. 

"You," he confessed, turning around to face her. "About how you don't understand what you did to me, when you left me. Why do you think that you can completely decide the course of this relationship? You want to break up, so we break up. You want to get back together, so we do. Don't I get a say in anything? When you left, not just to paint in the States, but also to live with Agravaine, you didn't feel the pain that I did. You shouldn't get to make the decision to pull me back to you." 

"I don't, Lance, I don't," Gwen said softly. "You get to decide, whether or not your accept me back." 

"Then my decision is to say no," he told her. "Last night was a mistake that I made, because you once again played ruthlessly with my feelings without even realising it. I don't want our relationship to spiral down into what it was the last time we did last time. I think it's best if you just leave." 

"Do you?" Gwen asked quietly. 

"Please, Gwen," he begged, needing this. Needing her to leave and to feel the pressure in his chest dissipate. "I can't see you, whether it's right now or ever. Please leave." 

Without a word, Gwen did. 

~ 

Arthur picked Merlin up early the next morning to go shopping for 'proper rich boy date clothes', as she had taken to calling them in her mind. She had texted her address to his phone number. She wasn't about to use any of her physical energy to bike over to the shopping mall, or any of her money to pay for a cab or a bus, no thank you very much. She was definitely going to wheedle every single penny out of Arthur. 

She shouldn't have been surprised to learn that Arthur had a Tesla Roadster, which was Tesla’s convertible car. However, when she left her building, she couldn't help but stare at it in disbelief. It was a sleek red, which was a fitting colour for Arthur. He had lowered its roof, and he was now sitting in the front seat, with one hand on the wheel and the other swung over the passenger seat. His shades just added the perfect grain of salt to the surrealism of it all. Never did Merlin suspect that she would get to ride in a convertible or a Tesla. More importantly, a convertible Tesla. Holy shit. 

"Well, Merlin, are you getting in?" Arthur called. 

"Yeah, after I catch my breath," she said with a grin, getting into the passenger seat. The lack of motor noise in this thing already felt like a peaceful haven. "Arthur, this is truly an amazing car." 

"What, you think I don't know that?" he asked with a smirk, driving his way out of the parking lot. "I only resort to the best. Which is why we're going to spend a lot of clothing on you today, by the way. I can't have anyone thinking I'm dating a poor country boy." 

Merlin scowled. As Arthur had guessed, she was from the countryside, from the small town of Erebor. She had moved to Camelot with her mother and sister when their father died. Hunith just couldn't handle being there anymore. Balinor had loved the countryside more than anything, really. 

It was only when Arthur pulled onto the freeway that Merlin began feeling the advantages of the convertible car. The wind blew through her hair roughly, and she absolutely loved it. The best part, actually, was being able to hear it without the impeding roar of the engine. 

"Woohoo!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, raising her hands in the air, as if it were a roller coaster. "Arthur, this is great!" 

"I can't believe you're enjoying yourself so much," he called back. "It's just some wind." 

"I'm going to be enjoying myself even more in a moment!" she yelled, as Arthur pulled onto a bridge. Now, Merlin could see the water rushing by, reflecting the morning's rising sun. She unbuckled her seatbelt, getting to her feet and sitting on the back of the car seat, lifting her hands to the wind, which was even more powerful here. 

"Oi, Merlin!" Arthur yelled, trying to pull her down by the leg with his left hand. "Get down! You're breaking the law! We'll be pulled over! And that's actually quite dangerous, too! 

"From where I'm sitting, I can't see any bobbies, Arthur!" she yelled. "Calm yourself, please, and stop ruining my fun. I'm actually not an idiot enough to fall over." 

Arthur complied reluctantly, pulling his hand away. Merlin could see the obvious look of discomfort eventually melt away, replaced by a small smile. She smiled to herself. It was pretty sweet that Arthur found her antics hilarious instead of completely annoying. She nudged him with her foot gently. 

" _Mer_ lin!" he yelled, grabbing her foot with his hand again, this time trying to wrestle her down into her seat for real. "We actually have the chance of getting into an accident this way!" 

"Fine, fine," Merlin complied, slumping back in the passenger seat. Still, that didn’t wipe the smile off of her face. "Happy now?" 

"You are incredibly irritating and a complete nuisance," Arthur pointed out. "Hopefully, valuable time spent with me will change that once and for all." 

Valuable time for Arthur Pendragon turned out to be choosing several perfectly tailored suits, fancy watches, and the perfect hair products. Merlin had bound her chest that day, in the case that tailoring did happen. She needed to prevent Arthur from accidentally noticing something and firing her right then and there on the spot. She didn't have enough money to buy a binder, so she just used some medical tape, which worked well for her small chest. She knew it was unhealthy, but she didn't plan on using it forever. When tailoring did happen, she didn't let anyone take off her tank top, while they were measuring her, either, and she made sure Arthur wasn't in the vicinity at all. 

Eventually, when she was dressed in a black suit similar to Arthur's, wearing a fancy watch on her left wrist like Arthur, and had her hair combed back stylishly like Arthur, all of which had taken several hundred pounds to purchase, he deemed her ready for the dates. 

"How many dates today, Arthur?" she asked on their way to the fancy, uber expensive restaurant. 

"Oh, I don't know, but most likely no less than six again," he answered casually. "Listen, the plan is quite simple. Halfway through the date, I excuse myself to go to the restroom. When I don't appear for quite sometime, the woman will follow, which is when she'll catch us kissing. Got it?" 

"You're just expecting me to wait by the bathroom for several hours?" Merlin protested. 

"We'll change it up as we go along, Merlin," Arthur said, slapping her shoulder. "Now hurry up." 

The first date went according to plan. Merlin lingered in the lobby for about twenty minutes, reading a magazine, before making her way over to the restroom near Arthur's table. She saw him make an excuse, before rising and making his way towards her. He had a delighted expression of anticipation on his face. 

"Oh god, this is so easy," he whispered, almost doubling over in laughter. 

"Can't you just tell your family that you don't want to go on dates, instead of pulling such stupid stunts?" she asked. 

"Are you saying that you don't want your money, Merlin?" he asked with a smirk, which she just wanted to smack off of his face. 

Eventually, the woman looked around curiously, before getting up and heading in their direction. As she was visible from Merlin's vantage point, she let him know when the woman came close, bringing her face closer to his. Their lips didn't meet, obviously, but they were relatively close. She heard the woman gasp with horror, which allowed Arthur and Merlin to break apart, pretending to be caught. 

"You were too perfect!" she yelled, whacking Arthur with her purse. "I should have assumed that _something_ was wrong!" 

She ran off in tears, and Arthur gave Merlin a victory knuckle pound. 

"You were so great, Merlin!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "We're going to con every woman like this!" 

"But don't forget, you owe me for that shoulder grab," Merlin warned. 

Arthur's plan did work perfectly every time. The bathroom wasn't the only place, where they ended up fake kissing. Sometimes, Arthur went down the escalator, signalling for Merlin to follow. They would hold each other and look into each other's eyes on the way up, slowly appearing in the woman's train of sight. It was hysterical to see Arthur so elated after each successful - from his point of view, not the ladies’ - blind date, teaching Merlin new secret handshakes of victory every time. 

On the last date, which turned out to be the seventh, dancing around with Arthur in the lobby turned out to be enough to make the woman leave in shock. 

"Merlin, you're my token of good luck!" Arthur exclaimed, grabbing her face and planting a single quick kiss on her lips. She could barely feel it, but she crinkled her nose in distaste. 

"Why did you have to do that?" she asked in disapproval. "That was my first kiss, clotpole." 

"That was my first kiss, too," Arthur replied, leaning in to mock-whisper, "with a man." 

Arthur was so full of it, honestly. Now, Merlin's lip virginity was gone forever to someone as unappreciative, ungrateful, unimportant, and stuck up as Arthur. Nevertheless, she accompanied him to lunch at the very restaurant in his celebration, since she still had to charge him for her performance. 

"One thousand fifty pounds isn't enough," she muttered to herself, as they were waiting for the waiter to bring their order. 

"What, is that how much I owe you?" Arthur asked through a mouthful of bread. 

"Yes, and that's not including the three hundred you already paid me," she pointed out. "But still, that's not nearly enough for my sister's school fees and flat deposit." 

"How much do you need for your flat deposit?" Arthur asked, with the tone of voice that implied that he actually cared, for once. 

"Why, will you loan me the money, if I tell you?" Merlin asked suspiciously. 

"You have to tell me how much it is, first," he protested. 

"Well, if you take in the payment of my other jobs into account, I'll need about five thousand pounds," Merlin confessed. 

"That's quite a lot of money, Merlin," Arthur commented. "I think I'll have to strip you of your suit and watch first. Let's start with the watch." 

"You want me to give you back this watch?" Merlin asked, raising her eyebrows. "Did it really cost that much?" 

"Nope, only ten pounds," he said absently, extending a hand. "Give it here." 

"You're so ridiculously cheap, Arthur," she muttered, taking it off and thrusting it into his hand. "I don't wear blingy things like these, anyways." 

The smell of freshly brewed coffee outside distracted her from nagging Arthur about the money, though. 

"Mm, someone's ordered themselves a freshly brewed cup," she said through a happy sigh. 

"What, you smell something?" Arthur asked, taking a sip from his drink, which was virgin, for some reason. 

"Yeah, I can smell coffee from outside," she told him. "Well, I could just now. The person's probably walked away." 

"That's impossible," Arthur said, a look of shock on his face. 

"Not for me," she bragged. "I have a very keen sense of smell. When you kissed me, I could still smell your breakfast. Fried eggs with some basil, am I right?" 

"Wow," Arthur said, sitting back in a stupor, looking a little drunk. "That's incredible." 

"Arthur, are you alright?" she asked, eyeing his drink warily. Was he drinking one with liquor? She tried her own, but she couldn't taste any alcohol in it. Arthur’s, on the other hand, reeked with a strong spirit. There was no way around it: their drinks had been mixed up. 

"Yeah, of course I'm fine," Arthur responded, slurring his words and blinking in a daze. "Why wouldn't I be?" 

"Arthur, our drinks got mixed up, and you're not drinking a virgin right now," she pointed out, noticing that he had finished almost the entire drink already. "But even so, you've only had one drink. Do you have such low tolerance, to get drunk?" 

"Yup," Arthur said slowly. "I can barely handle any alcohol, Merlin, which is why I ordered a virgin. Are you an idiot, Merlin? I feel like that's simple enough to figure out on your own." 

"You're the idiot, since you just drank an alcoholic drink without noticing the difference in taste," she pointed out in amusement. "You look completely smashed." 

"Do I?" Arthur asked, looking confused. "I feel fine. Completely fine. Let's go, Merlin." 

"Can you walk?" she asked, coming around to stand next to him, ready to help him up if necessary. 

"Of course I can walk," he puffed out indignantly, before standing to his feet and toppling immediately over. He lied face first on the ground with his feet spread out wide. No matter how much Merlin prodded him, with casual eaters staring on in irritation, Arthur wouldn't wake up. 

"Do you require assistance, sir?" a waiter asked, looking completely lost. 

"Yeah, if you'll just help me transport him to one of the sofas in the lobby," she said gratefully, using the help to heave offer over to one of the couches. 

She found his flat and car keys in his pocket, but she had no use for them. Even if she took the risk of driving Arthur's priceless Tesla, she wouldn't be able to enter his building. She didn't know the combination, and the keys didn't seem to have an automatic recognising system, so they wouldn't work for the building entrance. Eventually, Merlin decided on giving Arthur a piggyback ride, of which she was completely capable, to and fro the bus station. She paid for the ride with some cash that she found in his pockets. Not wanting to leave Arthur at her flat, where Hunith and Freya would ask endless question, she decided to leave Arthur at her mixed martial arts studio, which was the only place she could think of. Merlin wasn't evil enough to leave Arthur outside of his flat block for the night. 

She left him on the couch in the storage room, leaving a note that said that she'd be back in the morning or at noon, if he were still there by then. 

Her morning turned out to be busy. Freya's school headmaster called, complaining about a moneylending problem that Merlin's sister apparently had. 

"Freya, what kind of a moneylending problem is it?" she asked, after bursting inside the office. 

"Nothing much," she began guilty. "It's just-" 

"A teacher caught her accounting information in her notebooks," the headmaster told her. "Apparently, she's been asking students to lend her almost hundreds of pounds." 

"Freya, you can't do that!" Merlin told her on the way out of the office. "You don't have even fifty pounds to give back. How are you expecting to return the money?" 

"I need the money to start paying for vocal lessons, Merlin," Freya protested. "You _know_ it's my dream to-." 

"And if you can't become a singer, what then?" Merlin asked desperately. "If you don't become successful and can't pay off your debts, _I_ will have to be the one to find a hundred more jobs to pay for the stupidity of you and mum, and _I_ will be the one to take more debts to pay the rich, insufferable gits, who demand money. And then I'll just have to work even harder, because soon _those_ people will start asking for money, too!" 

"Well, at least we know from who I got the idea of a money lending operation!" Freya exclaimed. "From you, Merlin! From you, who can't get a stable enough job to pay for everything at once. You still have to resort to money lending." 

"Unlike you, I'm not trying to pay for myself," Merlin said softly. "I'm trying to pay for all of us to have a roof to protect us from the rain and for food to put on the table." 

~ 

Arthur woke up groggily, wincing at his headache. He vaguely remembered Merlin accusing him of drinking an alcoholic drink, despite not ordering one. It seemed like he was correct, after all. Arthur was nursing a small hangover. When he tried to sit up, however, he couldn't. 

He looked down, noticing that his whole body was tied up in multicoloured belts. 

"Kids, what did you do?" came Merlin's voice from somewhere to his left. He looked over, noticing his surroundings. He appeared to be lying in the middle of a large studio of sorts. Martial arts, from the looks of it. As Merlin approached, dressed in a uniform with a black belt, little kids began to run around all over the place, squealing in excitement. 

"I'm sorry about that," Merlin muttered, kneeling by Arthur and untying the belts. "I have no control over the five year olds. 

"You do martial arts?" Arthur asked curiously, sitting up and rubbing his wrists, which had suffered from the belts, too. 

"Yeah, it's mixed martial arts," Merlin said. "I'm a second degree black belt and an instructor here. I didn't want to leave you outside of your flat block, so I left you here for the night." 

"Thank you, Merlin," Arthur said genuinely. 

"I brought you a shirt and some pants, in case you want to change," Merlin said, retrieving them from his bag. "You can change in the staff room and return them later." 

Arthur agreed, leaving to the said room. As he pulled on the clothing, he took a moment to look around. The room had few lockers, each one for a different staff member. They didn't appear to have locks, so he opened the one labeled 'Merlin Emrys' in curiosity. On the inside of the locker door, there was an attached childhood photo of Merlin with his family, which included his parents and a younger sister. Even as a kid, he wore a ridiculous red neckerchief and baggy pants. It seemed like his sense of style hadn't improved in the least. 

Also hanging in the locker was a drawn clock, which had Merlin's scribbled writing on it. It included a full list of his schedule. Milk deliveries, ~~noodle deliveries~~ , teaching martial arts, martial arts training, working at the restaurant, and being Arthur's gay boyfriend were all activities packed into the space available on the clock. Arthur smiled, impressed. His mother was right: Arthur was definitely lazy. Compared to Merlin, he did absolutely nothing. Arthur lounged around all day, living off of his mother's money. Unlike his older half-brother Lance, who was actually musically talented, Arthur didn't even try to work or do something useful with his life. Looking at Merlin, who worked so hard and still didn't have enough to pay for his flat deposit, Arthur couldn't help but feel guilty. 

He left the staff room and sat on the bench on the side of the martial arts floor, watching as Merlin demonstrated a kicking combination to them. They replicated it, some better than others. Just from watching how hard the guy worked, Arthur knew that he couldn't refuse to help him out. He made out a check for five thousand pounds and slipped it into Merlin’s bag, along with the note explaining that the extra three thousand five hundred were a loan, which he could pay back whenever was best for him. 

~ 

_Lancelot is playing his keyboard, singing a quiet melody. Guinevere stands with her back to him, wearing a floral light gown with an apron over it, painting spring rain on the canvas in front of her. They work so well together, him and her._

_When her piece is done, so is his. He approaches her from behind her, wrapping his arms around her thin waist and burying his face in her soft, thick hair. When she laughs, it's like the soothing raindrops in her painting, or the lonely notes of a solo piano piece._

_They dance together to the recording of a some smooth jazz. Holding her is like opening a gift. When she's with him, it's always springtime. When she's gone, black clouds cover Lance’s heart._

Unable to handle the flood of memories on his own, Lance jumped in his car without a second thought, driving over to Gwen's flat. When he arrived, she was painting, just as calmly as she was in his memory. Gently, without ruining her work, he pulled her away from her work, turning her around to face him. 

"How can you work like this?" he asked her, shaking her by the shoulders. "Here I am, sitting in my home and suffering, not being to concentrate for a single second on absolutely anything, because all I think about is you. But you're still painting, as if nothing is amiss? I am a mess, but you're getting along just fine. I don't think you understand how much being left behind hurt me. But no matter how hard I try to hurt you just as much, I can't. You remain unaffected. I can't play your games, can I?" 

When Gwen didn't respond, simply continuing to watch him sadly, Lance turned to go, not knowing what else to say. He stopped, when her thin arms slipped underneath his and around his waist. 

"I'm glad you came, Lance," she said softly, her voice muffled into his back. 

"I want to hurt you, but I don't know how," he whispered, fighting the threatening feeling of oncoming tears. 

~ 

_Arthur is standing by Lance, his best man, at the front of the cathedral, waiting as the bride makes her way down the aisle. He can't see her face, since a veil covers it, but he can assume that she's just as unpleasant as the women he has to meet on his blind dates. Maybe she's one of them, or maybe she's someone new. He doesn't particularly care, since it's an arranged marriage. If he had had a say in this business, he would choose not to get married at all, ever. Living alone is easier._

_They say their vows, with Arthur almost yawning through it. When the priest orders him to kiss the bride, Arthur removes the veil, only to see a blushing Merlin. The white gown transforms into the suit that Arthur bought for him. When Merlin makes kissy faces at him, Arthur begins to scream._

Arthur woke up, sweating buckets, reaching for his ringing phone. It was probably what woke him. Thank god for that, or he would have had to kiss Merlin in his dream, and that wasn't something even his abnormal subconscious wanted, right? 

"Hello?" he asked sleepily, blinking the morning sunlight out of his eyes. 

_"Oi, Arthur,"_ came Merlin's voice awkwardly over the phone, and Arthur groaned. 

"It's you," he growled, the traumatising memories from his dream resurfacing. 

_"Yeah, I'm sorry about that,"_ Merlin said. _"Listen, thank you for the money. I just want to know when you want it back, because I have to plan it all out, you know, how much I should be making and putting off for my flat and my sister's fees and-"_

"Merlin, slow down," Arthur commanded, shutting him up. "Did you read the note? I said to return it whenever it was best for you. I won't charge you interest for it. Just take care of your other responsibilities first and pay me back whenever you can. I'm not going to miss it, believe me." 

_"Are you sure?"_ Merlin asked suspiciously. 

"Yes, Merlin, I'm sure," Arthur rolled his eyes, hanging up after listening to Merlin thank him another five times. In a few minutes, however, he received a call again. 

" _What_ , Merlin?" he snapped into the phone. 

_"I don't know who this Merlin is, but it isn’t not him,"_ came his mother's voice over the phone. 

"I'm sorry, Mother," he said awkwardly. "Um, how are you?" 

_"I am well, and I hope you are, too,"_ she replied. _"I want to meet you at the Coffee Prince in an hour."_

"The coffee shop you own?" Arthur asked in confusion. He had never visited, but he heard that it was a rundown place in terrible condition and without any customers. Neither the manager that Ygraine had hired nor his mother herself worried about making any money off of it. 

_"You'll see what this is all about when you get there,"_ she said. _"You'll come, won't you?"_

"Yes, I'll come," he agreed, although somewhat reluctantly. He had been looking forward to a day of sitting in his flat doing nothing. Maybe this would be a change. 

When he arrived, he saw that the rumours were proven to be true. The place was indeed a depressing mess. Ygraine and Morgana sat together at one of the tables with an old man, presumably the manager, waiting for his arrival. 

"So, what are we doing here?" he asked, joining them at the table. 

"Arthur, this is Gaius, the manager of Coffee Prince," Ygraine said. "He's a good friend of Uther's. Say hello to him. He's your new instructor." 

~ 

After delivering the milk that morning, Merlin headed over to the martial arts studio. As she approached it, she could see that the inside walls were bare, completely stripped of signs, decorations, belts, etc. Nothing personal was left; the doors were locked; and the lights were out. 

And Merlin hadn't even been paid that month.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm currently posting the seven chapters that I already wrote. I'm editing them still. Otherwise, I write a chapter a week, which I post during the weekend, so my updates are fairly regular.


	3. Cup 3

"You... you want me to work here?" Arthur asked, trying to understand what was going on. 

"Yes," Ygraine responded simply. "I want you to work as a co-manager with Gaius, and I want you to help renovate Coffee Prince. I want you to hire workers, to attract publicity, and to make it become successful. You need this more than I do, Arthur." 

"What?" Arthur asked in surprise. "I don't need this. Why do you think I need this? I don't need to make money. I have money." 

"No, you don't," Morgana said with an evil smile. "Mother does. If you don't comply, she's going to cut you off completely." 

"Mother, what?" Arthur asked in astonishment. "That can't be true." 

"It is, darling," Ygraine said sadly, patting Arthur's cheek. "If you don't work at Coffee Prince, you're on your own. I'll have your car towed and your flat cleared out. I have workers on my speed dial. It's for your own good. I can't believe I oversaw your laziness in your childhood. I've coddled you quite too long, and it's my fault that you don't know how to do any proper work. But I've found an opportunity for you, so you better take it." 

"Mother, fine," Arthur tried. "I can work for you, if you want. Just give me a supervisor slot in your company and-" 

"I don't need you in my company, Arthur," Ygraine said, stopping him. "I want you to work _here_ , where you'll be at least partially independent and separated from me. If you don't take it, I'm cutting you off and telling your father." 

"My father?" Arthur asked in a small voice. Uther was not a force to be reckoned with, especially when he was on bad term with his son. 

"Yes," Ygraine said. "Think about it, Arthur. I'll give you a few days. And if you say no, I'll still have Morgana to bully you into agreeing, no matter how unfair that is. It's also unfair for you to leech off my well-earned money. Morgana has already opened her own restaurant in several places, London included, and you're still sitting on your sofa, waiting for us to support you. I won't let you live like that forever." 

"Fine," Arthur agreed reluctantly. "I'll think about it." 

With his mood completely ruined, he decided to stop by Gwen's flat. She had just returned from the States, still as beautiful as she had been two years ago, and three, and even nine, when he had first fallen in love with her. The fact that she had been Lancelot's beloved for the eight years before leaving him didn't stop Arthur from caring only for her. There wasn't anyone like her, honestly, and he didn't think he'd find anyone greater. Despite that, he minded neither having an endless string of one-night stands nor humouring his mother with her ceaseless yet unsuccessful matchmaking. Gwen was someone he would never be able to have as more than a friend. 

When he arrived at her flat, however, using a spare key, he heard happy laughter coming from the direction of her bedroom. One voice was definitely hers, but the other was deeper. He rang the doorbell to avoid intruding, and Gwen and Lance appeared in the living room a few moments later. 

"Hey, Arthur!" Gwen said happily. "It's nice to see you again. Lance and I were just catching up. He's finally agreed to welcome me back with open arms." 

"Can't hold a grudge for long, can you?" Arthur asked him, feeling betrayed for reasons that even he couldn’t comprehend. He knew that Gwen returned to Camelot with the prospect of getting back together Lance. Even if Lance hadn’t taken her back, Arthur didn't have a chance with her. She would always treat him like a younger brother. His mind understood that, but his heart didn't. 

"Yeah, Gwen, she's..." Lance stopped, at a loss for words. "I can be angry at her all I want, but in the end, I love her. There's no use making everything all the more difficult for myself by rejecting her." 

"Okay, enough talking about me, as if I'm not here," Gwen said with a smile, swatting Lance lightly on his arm. "Arthur, would you like to stay for an early dinner?" 

"Actually, I just realised that I have somewhere to be," Arthur lied awkwardly. "But thank you for the offer. I'm sorry to just barge in here uninvited, Gwen." 

"Oh, it's no problem," she said, seeing him to the door. "Stop by another time, yeah?" 

"Sure, thanks," he said with a nod, feeling her flat as soon as possible. He was happy for Gwen and Lance, but he couldn't be there to celebrate their reunion without jealousy getting in the way and ruining everything. 

On his way home, the thick clouds finally gave way to rain. Arthur had to pass by a rather poor side of the neighbourhood to reach his own. He drove slowly to avoid hitting someone by accident in this rainfall, which allowed him to see a familiar figure making his way along the pavement. It was Merlin, dragging two huge black trash bags with him. 

Arthur followed in his car at a distance, watching as Merlin stumbled along, appearing not to watch where he was going. Eventually, he bumped into two people, a couple, who were walking together under an umbrella. He dropped one of the trash bags as a result, causing a bunch of yellow stuffed teddy bears to fall out onto the dirty, soaked pavement. And while Merlin knelt to pick them up, the man stood in front of him, gesticulating wildly and yelling at him. 

Arthur parked his car, running over to Merlin. He knelt besides him, helping him stuff the teddy bears back in the bag. Merlin looked up at him, recognition and thankfulness flashing in his eyes upon seeing who it was. But as they were doing so, the man continued to yell. 

"You really think you could come on to her, punk?" he shouted, standing over them. Merlin ignored him, but Arthur looked up in surprise. _That_ was what this was all about? Did the man really think that Merlin was trying to feel up his girlfriend? He really wasn't the type, and he had had those two bags, at that. 

"You're complaining about the man's possessive attitude, when _you_ 're the one being possessive right now?!" the woman yelled unexpectedly. "I'm not an object. Can't you see that the man just didn't see where he was going?" 

Their own argument was a leeway for Arthur and Merlin to finish up and make their escape. Arthur grabbed Merlin's hand, pulling him along in the direction of the car. Arthur pushed him into the passenger seat and the bags in the back, after they arrived. 

"What were you doing out in the rain, dragging those teddy bears around with you?" Arthur asked, starting the car. 

"What were you doing, following me?" Merlin retorted indignantly. 

"I wasn't following you!" Arthur exclaimed. "I was driving home, and I happened to see you be the idiot you are, as always. You don't watch where you're going, do you, Merlin?" 

"I was trying to make sure that the teddy bears weren't falling out, which they did, anyways," Merlin muttered. "The martial arts school closed down unexpectedly, and the head instructor fled without paying me, so I took up this job of sewing on button eyes. It barely pays anything, but screw that. It's better than nothing." 

As Arthur pulled up to his flat, Merlin looked around in surprise. 

"My flat," Arthur responded, getting out and helping with the bags. "You don't mind waiting here, until the rain stops, do you? I don't particularly want to drive you to your flat again." 

"I don't mind staying with you for a bit, but this is your flat?" Merlin asked on confusion. "This isn't where I've been before. 

"Oh, that?" Arthur asked, realising that Merlin was referring to the place where they had ended up toppled over on the floor. "That's my second flat. It’s to bring girls over, usually. If I bring them to my actual home, there's always a chance that they'll simply continue coming here and trying to talk to me. And then I'd have to file a restraining order, and I'm not really interested in doing that in the least." 

"Lord, you are so full of yourself," Merlin complained, following Arthur into the flat. As soon as they were inside, he approached Arthur's disorganised stacks of vinyl records, immediately finding one and putting it on the record player. 

"You better take good care of those," Arthur told him, watching Merlin as he kicked off his shoes. "I collect vinyl records as a hobby. They’re quite important to me." 

"Is that why they're lying around all over the place?" Merlin joked, but Arthur could hear his voice break unexpectedly. "You're not taking great care of them yourself." 

Arthur approached Merlin, noticing that tears began to pool up in his eyes. Arthur knelt besides him, as Merlin wiped at his eyes and nose. 

"Merlin, are you alright?" Arthur asked, concerned. 

"This brings back memories of my childhood, when my father was still alive," Merlin confessed. "He used to play records, too. This one in particular." 

Before Arthur could comment, Merlin's phone rang. The ringtone was a ridiculously girly voice, telling him to pick up his phone. Merlin looked at him in embarrassment before answering it. Arthur took the opportunity to go to the kitchen to begin preparing something for dinner. He was quite hungry, since he had refused food at Gwen's flat. 

"My mother says I should stay over until morning, since the rain isn't planning on letting up today," Merlin told him guiltily, joining Arthur in cutting up vegetables. "Is that okay?" 

"Of course," Arthur said. After a lull in conversation, he asked, "Merlin, what happened to your father? Did he pass away?" 

"Yeah," Merlin said sadly. "It's the main reason why I'm having so much trouble sustaining the family. That's all I've been trying to do for so long. I haven't gone to college or received an actual degree to find something with a greater pay and stabler than sewing eyes onto dolls." 

"Your mother and sister can't help?" Arthur asked tentatively. 

"No, they can't," Merlin said, not elaborating, but cheering up immediately. "But still, all is well! At least for me. I might care about money almost more than anything else, but we're surviving. I have some fun in my life, like right now. Come on, Arthur, don't stand there like a porcelain doll. Let's eat! I might fall over without some food in my body." 

As Arthur began to eat his soup, he realised that hungry for him and for Merlin meant two completely different things. While Arthur could restrain himself somewhat, eating slowly to prevent himself from choking and _dying_ , Merlin basically devoured the whole bowl in under a minute. Merlin finished seconds, before Arthur could even complete one bowl of soup. 

"Aren't you afraid of choking?" he asked with a chuckle eventually. "Or feeling sick?" 

"Those two things rarely ever happen," Merlin said through a mouthful, waving him off. "I’m pretty sure that I have absolutely no gag reflex, so I can simply swallow things without a problem." 

Arthur knew other situations, where not having a gag reflex would be useful, but he quickly willed them from his mind. Merlin was an innocent young boy. There was no need to associate him with anything other than sunshine and kittens. 

After finishing dinner, Merlin went immediately to the task of sewing on the eyes to the teddy bears in the corner of the flat. Arthur sat besides to help out, assuring Merlin that yes, he knew how to sew, and no, he wouldn't completely screw them up. Occasionally, his teddy bears' eyes would be a little more crooked than Merlin's, but it wasn't an extremely noticeable difference. 

"What about you, Arthur?" Merlin asked suddenly. "You seem a little out of it today. You're insulting me less, and you're even helping out with the toys. What is it? Girl problems? You can tell me. I've been told that I’m pretty good with these things." 

"Oh really?" Arthur asked in amusement, for some reason feeling compelled to share the story with him. "Well, there are two things. First of all, my mother owns this ridiculous café, and she wants me to take over and renovate it. I don't particularly want to work there, though. As you might have noticed, I'm not you, Merlin. It's difficult for me to work even one job, as I rarely had to do that throughout my entire, well-off life." 

"I see," Merlin said thoughtfully. "What's the second?" 

"The second is a woman," Arthur said solemnly. 

"Guinevere?" Merlin asked. 

"You remember her?" he asked in surprise. 

"I do," Merlin nodded. "You looked like you cared about her. What kind of relationship do you two have?" 

"What she has is friendship," Arthur confessed. "What I have is a bad habit. Seeing her is like drinking water in the morning. I can't not do it, since I've loved her for so long. And if I try not to see her, I end up doing it, anyways. She's a terrible habit, really, but I don't know how to quit her." 

"Sounds desperate," Merlin commented. 

"It does, doesn't it?" Arthur asked absently. "Now, if only she were the only problem. But now that my mother is pressuring me to work at Coffee Prince-" 

"Wait, the café you were talking about is Coffee Prince?" Merlin asked with wide eyes. "Really? Your mother owns it?" 

"Yes, do you know it?" Arthur asked in surprise. 

"Of course I know it!" Merlin responded, grabbing on to Arthur's shoulder. "Arthur, take the job and hire me!" 

"What?" Arthur asked in astonishment. "No, of course not. You're being absurd." 

"Please, Arthur?" Merlin begged. "I'm close with Gaius, and I have a keen sense of smell, remember? That'll be good for brewing coffee. Besides, if you take the job, you can use that to show off to Guinevere. It'll make you look cool and sophisticated in front of both her and your mother." 

"That's not a terrible idea, actually," Arthur said slowly, thinking it over. "Not bad, Merlin. Not bad at all." 

"So you'll think about it?" Merlin asked eagerly. 

"I will," Arthur promised. 

"Thank you," he responded, getting to his feet. 

"Where are you going?" Arthur asked indignantly. 

"To prepare for the night," Merlin called back. "Actually, Arthur, can I borrow some clothes and a toothbrush?" 

After Arthur gathered those things for him, Merlin left to find the bathroom. Arthur watched, as Merlin wandered down the hallway. When he reached his first door to the left, he was about to open it. It was almost too late, when Arthur realised that it wasn’t the bathroom the Merlin was about to enter. 

“You can’t go in there!” he shouted, jumping up to his feet and skitting down the hallway. His momentum caused him to run into Merlin head on, which at least prevented the latter from opening the door. 

“What is it, a room full of sex toys?” Merlin muttered, rubbing arm, that had experienced the impact. Arthur scowled, leveling Merlin with a look. “If not, what’s there? I’m suddenly curious.” 

“There’s no way that I’m letting you enter,” he grumbled, directing Merlin towards the bathroom. He wasn’t about to explain the lego collection, that was hidden behind the closed door. Merlin would probably only see it as a child’s hobby, something Arthur did out of boredom, because he didn’t have any real responsibilities. 

Thankfully, Merlin didn’t push the matter further. Instead, he left for the bathroom, where he remained for quite some time, though. And Arthur really needed to take a leak. 

"Merlin!" he yelled, banging on the door. "What are you doing in there?" 

"Brushing my teeth!" he yelled back, his words muffled. Great, because that meant the toilet was available. Arthur barged in, registering Merlin's look of immediate disgust in the mirror. 

"Why the hell did you come in, Arthur?" Merlin protested. "I just told you that I was brushing my teeth. It's taken!" 

"Well, I needed to take a leak," Arthur commented, getting down to business. Merlin crinkled his nose in displeasure and rolled his eyes, looking away from Arthur in the mirror. 

When Arthur was finished, he sidled up to Merlin at the sink, washing his hands. Arthur stood a little behind him, using his longer arms to reach. Coincidentally, this allowed him to get a perfect view of Merlin's arse, which happened to be extremely small. 

"You have a really small arse, Merlin," he commented while drying his hands on a towel. 

"Excuse me?" Merlin asked incredulously, almost choking on his toothpaste. Looking at the towel in his hands, Arthur thought it would be hilarious to whack it gently at Merlin's butt. He did so, causing the man to whirl around and stare at him in shock. 

"What the _fuck_ , Arthur?" Merlin asked, obviously flustered. Arthur had neither heard such profanity leave his mouth, nor seen him look so embarrassed. Arthur laughed, tossing the towel aside, reaching his hands behind Merlin, and drying his wet hands on his butt. 

"Arthur, that's sexual harassment!" Merlin called after him, as Arthur left the bathroom with a smile. 

"Please don't file a report, Merlin!" Arthur yelled back. "I wouldn't, if you did the same to me, I promise!" 

When Arthur woke up, he found Merlin neither in the guest room nor in the rest of the flat. He was disappointed to see that the guy had gone, but the sadness quickly ebbed, when he saw little paper footprint cutouts leading to his roof patio. Waiting for Arthur outside was one of his teddy bears with crookedly sewn eyes. Attached to it was a note that read, _Arthur, take the job at Coffee Prince! :D_

Arthur chuckled, shaking his head to himself. Merlin was really a funny guy, but truly a great person. Making up his mind, Arthur decided to ring his mother. 

_"Good morning, Arthur,"_ Ygraine greeted him. 

"Good morning, Mother," he responded. "I've decided to take the job at Coffee Prince, so you won't have to bother coming up with ways to convince me to do it." 

_"Really, Arthur?"_ she asked in surprise. _"I honestly wasn't expecting you to call so soon. I'm glad that you have, though. Try not to think of running Coffee Prince as a chore. I strongly believe that this will be a good change in your life. Have fun with it!"_

~ 

Much to Merlin's relief, Arthur decided to accept being a manager at Coffee Prince, promising her a waiter's position. She was glad her words worked on him, because a job at the café would really save her family from being kicked out onto the streets. However, working for Arthur also meant accompanying him around the neighbourhood, looking around to see if anyone would work for him. 

"What, you're just going to look into every restaurant and ask if they're willing to work for you?" Merlin yelled over the noise in the crowded streets. 

"Maybe I'll do that," Arthur yelled back. 

"And if we have to spend money today, you're paying," Merlin told him. 

"Do you just see me as a source of money, Merlin?" Arthur asked in mock hurt. 

"Yup," Merlin responded, turning away to continue her search for different street vendors, who could possibly be willing to work with them. Coincidentally, that was the moment they were passing by a waffle-selling vendor. It stood right across the street from a secondary school, and a sea of sixteen-year-old-looking girls crowded around it, waiting in line. 

"You wanna check this person out, Arthur?" Merlin asked. "A hot guy is probably working there, if his customers are a female majority." 

Sure enough, the man turned out to be extremely handsome. He was wearing a tank top and some shorts, both of which revealed his toned body. He wore a beanie over his almost shoulder-length brown hair, and he wore a small beard and moustache quite well. Altogether, it explained all of the energetic girls. 

"Hello, I'm Arthur Pendragon," the prat introduced himself, while the man prepared their order. "I'm renovating the café Coffee Prince, and I would like to give you an opportunity to work for me." 

"No thanks," the man responded, handing Merlin their waffles with a smile. She couldn't help but smile back bashfully. 

"But you didn't even hear how much you'll be getting paid!" Arthur exclaimed, coming to a stop, when the man fixed him with an unhappy expression. "Fine, fine, but if you change your mind, please stop by the Coffee Prince for more information about the job opportunity." 

Since there seemed to be no other successful vendors in sight, Merlin and Arthur made their way back to the Coffee Prince, which was just nearby. As they drove, a suddenly serious thought struck her. 

"Arthur," she began, feeling nervous. "Are you only hiring men to work for you?" 

"Yes," he responded calmly. 

"Why?" she asked. "Don't you feel like that's more than a bit sexist? You can't just refuse women, who want to apply." 

"Well, I guess it'll be rude to simply refuse, but I don't want women to work for me, at least at the moment." Arthur confessed. "It's honestly nothing to do with abilities. I'm trying to create a theme for Coffee Prince, which includes the waiters being young, handsome men. Princes, like the name implies." 

"So, you're hiring pretty boys?" Merlin asked. She didn't know how she felt about this at the moment. "You couldn't have told me this before?" 

Merlin felt guilty, because she knew that she didn't have a right to complain on that front. She could have told Arthur that she was a girl the first time he made that mistake, and yet she hadn't. 

"Honestly, Merlin, I only came up with the theme earlier today," Arthur said. "This is only going to be the first shop of Coffee Prince, so we don't need to worry about turning down applications. We don't know if this is going to be a success. But if it is, and female employees are rushing to join, I won't simply refuse their applications." 

When they arrived at the café, Gaius, who had been wiping down some of the dirtier tables, came to greet them. Merlin urgently pounded it into him that she was currently pretending to be a man in front of Arthur. Needless to say, it had earned her a disapproving look. However, Gaius had complied, agreeing to call Merlin by male pronouns. 

"Hello, Merlin, Arthur. Did you have any luck today?" 

"Well, we found a waffle-selling vendor down the street, but the man refused to work for us," Arthur confessed. "But we can find someone else, no doubt." 

"What made you want to bring this particular man to Coffee Prince?" Gaius asked. 

"Well," Merlin began, trying not to give anything away about her gender or sexuality to Arthur, who still seemed to think that she was a straight guy. She needed to start thinking about how to tell him the truth. "He seems like the kind of mate girls like looking at. After all, there _was_ a crowd of them at his vendor. He has a completely loyal female following." 

"If you convince him to work at Coffee Prince, you'll likely attract those girls to become regular customers here," Gaius mused. 

"That's true, actually," Arthur commented. "Hopefully he'll show up again." 

Merlin had left her bike at the café before coming on the ride with Arthur. When he finally let her off the hook, she biked home, making sure to pass by Lancelot's home. Sure enough, he was sitting with his front yard gates opened. He looked up with a smile as she stopped in front of him. 

Merlin didn't think she had ever met a guy like Lance before. He was a complete charmer, with a soothing, velvet voice that never failed to make her feel better. He was like a dark and handsome Prince Charming from a little girl's fairy tale, which she herself had enjoyed, too. Ultimately, she knew that the 'friend' with the girl problem he had told her about that one night was actually him. She couldn't wish Lance unhappiness, but she couldn't help hoping that maybe, just maybe, he had decided not to take the woman back, if only to give Merlin a chance. 

"Hey!" he waved to Merlin, getting up to greet her. "How have you been doing these past few days? Any more money versus pride issues getting in your way?" 

"Well, there _was_ a money issue, but I've been offered another job," she told him. "Everything will be better soon. What about your friend? Did he get back together with the woman, who came back for him?" 

"Well, they're together again," Lance confessed. "And my friend is really happy to be with her." 

"Oh," Merlin muttered, deflating. That's what she got for being hopeful. 

"What's wrong?" he asked her, looking genuinely caring. 

"Well, if both your friend's issue and mine is solved, we probably won't have a reason to talk to each other again," Merlin confessed. It was only part of the story, but she wasn’t about to confess her love for him. She would be greeted with an immediate rejection. 

"Well, actually, there _is_ a slight issue," Lance said with a laugh, even if it was only to indulge Merlin's want to talk to him. "Let's call him Guy A and her Girl B. They're happy together, most of the time. But in the times that they're not, it's because of Guy C. Girl B dated him. They’ve broken up, but Guy C continues to call her over the phone. That makes Guy A extremely jealous. Pathetic, huh?" 

"I don't think that's pathetic!" Merlin argued. "Guy A is being a good person by trying to be understanding, but it seems like Girl B doesn't know how much she’s discomforting him or hurting him by caring enough about Guy C. Even if she's only being herself, she's not taking the consequences of her actions into account." 

"You're right, Merlin," Lance said with a thankful smile. 

"Does Guy A lack the confidence to believe that Girl B will choose him over Guy C?" she asked gently. 

"Yes, he does," Lance confessed. 

"I personally think that Guy A is a pretty cool guy," Merlin told him boastfully. "So tell him to have confidence. If Girl B is smart enough to know what’s best for her, she'll definitely choose Guy A." 

"Thanks, Merlin, I'll pass it on," Lance said with a laugh, ruffling Merlin's hair. She blushed, ducking her head and turning to go, before turning back to face Lance. 

"Well, I don't know if we'll meet again by chance or not. If we won't, and I want to call you, can I maybe have your phone number?" Merlin asked in a rush. "Or maybe not, if you don't want to. Never mind, sorry." 

"Merlin, I'd be happy to give you my number," Lance said through a hearty laugh, stopping her from fleeing. “Do you want a pen or paper, or to take out your phone?” 

“Oh, I can memorise it,” she assured him, nodding enthusiastically. 

"It's oh seven nine five six three four eight four two seven,” Lance told her with a smile. 

"Thank you, Lance," she said quickly, engraining in her head, before getting on her bike and speeding away. 

"Oh seven nine five six three four eight four two seven!" she sing-songed on her way home, repeating it over and over again, to remember it and enter it into a contact later. She didn't know if she'd have the courage to message Lancelot at all. Still, she had asked for his number in the first place, and he had given it willingly. It was already an accomplishment. 

When Merlin went to the Coffee Prince for work the next day, she saw that there had been a new addition to the group. An energetic guy with fluffy red hair was milling around after Arthur, going on and on about his plans for decorating the place. As soon as he saw Merlin, he bounded over to her with an excited smile. 

"I'm Leon Young, Arthur's friend from uni," he introduced himself, shaking Merlin's hand enthusiastically. "I'm an interior designer, but I'm kind of jobless right now. Arthur invited me to help out with the layout, and maybe even stay to work for him. What about you?" 

"I'm Merlin Emrys, his random friend that he met on the street one time," she said, convinced that her name will once again lead a stranger to believe that she was a man. "I convinced him to take up this job offer, so I'm making sure that he hires me." 

"I'm looking forward to getting to know you better, Merlin," Leon said, going in for an unexpected bear hug. She hugged back a little awkwardly, but she was happy to be welcomed so kindly by Arthur's friend. 

It was a busy work day for Coffee Prince. Arthur was extremely unsatisfied with its old-fashioned look, so he, Merlin, Leon, and Gaius worked together to strip the walls of decorations, carry out the old tables, mop the floors, wash the windows, etc.. Arthur had ordered new furniture, cutlery, and miscellaneous materials already, all of which lied in wait outside of the building. Merlin went outside, preparing to drag some boxes in. She didn't get the chance to, however, as Percival suddenly appeared out of nowhere, crossing his arms when he spotted Merlin. 

"It's because of you that Freya doesn't want to see me anymore," he complained, as she began to pick up some of the lighter boxes, ignoring me. "I bet you don't even love her as much as I do!" 

"It's Freya's decision to date whomever she wants," Merlin said indifferently. "Coming to me will change absolutely nothing." 

"I refuse to believe that!" he exclaimed, continuing to follow Merlin around. "Even if fighting you won't lead to winning her heart, I still want to fight you!" 

"How about you help me carry in these boxes, Percy?" she asked, waving a hand at the load outside. 

"Why would I do that?" he asked grumpily. 

"I need to finish carrying them into the house," Merlin explained. "The quicker we'll get done, the sooner we'll start fighting." 

Percy looked a little baffled by her offer, but he complied with a shrug nevertheless. Merlin sat down on the curb, taking a break, watching as Percy quickly carried in the rest of the boxes, even the most enormous ones. She was about to get up again, when suddenly, she saw Arthur approach Percy first. 

"What's your name?" he asked, wearing his perpetual, judgemental frown. 

"Percival Hopper," he replied. "I'm Merlin's sworn enemy. He's dating my Angel, Freya, who he doesn’t love enough." 

"Oh, that's it, then?" Arthur said looking over at Merlin with raised eyebrows. She shook her hands wildly, trying to convey that she wasn't actually dating anyone, before Arthur got the idea of teasing her about even more things than he already did. She didn't think Arthur knew that that was the name of her sister. "Percival, how about you work for me? You're a tough guy, aren't you? I think you'd be useful here." 

"Well," Percy grumbled, looking lost. "I _am_ having a difficult time finding a job at the moment." 

"Great," Arthur said, despite the fact that not being able to find a job was decidedly _not_ a great thing, from Merlin's experience. Arthur clapped him on the shoulder. "Think about it." 

~ 

Even when everyone else had gone home at the end of the work day, Arthur remained, looking forward to spending the evening with Gwen. He had invited her to paint murals on the coffee shop's walls, since they were now considerably bare, and she had happily agreed. Before she arrived, he ran out to buy a bottle of wine and bring over two glasses and a plate of grapes and cheese. It could be like their own little picnic. When she entered the building with her paint set, looking comfortable in a loose white shirt and beige Zumba pants, Arthur could only stare longingly at her. 

"Well, this place seems to be a lot nicer already," she commented, looking around. "I'm truly happy that you took the opportunity to renovate this place, Arthur." 

"Yes, well," he mumbled, not knowing what to say, really. He was happy that he had made her proud of him, like Merlin predicted, but he knew that wasn't going to get him anywhere in terms of romance. He knew it was about time to finally recognise that friendship with Guinevere was all that lied in store for him. 

"I can't believe there were no paintings here for so long," she commented, as Arthur laid out the cloth with the food and wine on the centre floor. "But that's better for me, I guess. I can start anew, and with so much room at that." 

"What are you thinking about painting?" Arthur asked. 

"I think sunflowers would be a good theme to lighten up the café," she mused. "Are you fine with that?" 

"Of course," he said, lying back on a makeshift couch. "Paint whatever you want." 

Arthur watched as Gwen began painting to some jazz piano, which played from the iPhone they had connected to the newly installed speakers. Her hair, tied back in a ponytail, cascaded down her back. He wanted nothing more than to run his fingers through it, to stand with his arms wrapped around her waist from behind, his chin on her shoulder, watching as she produced a work of art. But the invisible barrier remained in front of him. It wasn't some invisible barrier that he couldn't surpass within himself. It was that he simply couldn't ruin the lives of his brother and one of his best friends. He wasn't and didn't want to be Lance's competition, so he only watched her happiness and grace from afar. 

~ 

Until her binder came in, Merlin would have to keep binding her chest with medical tape. She knew that she couldn't go on with medical tape forever, but she hadn't assumed that it wouldn't be necessary for very long. She hadn't expected for her friendship with Arthur to evolve, which it had. Even if he'd still hire a girl like her, who looked like a pretty boy, he definitely wouldn’t let her keep her job, if she confessed to him now. He'd immediately turn her away for lying to him for so long. She had had her plethora of chances to let Arthur know that she wasn't simply a feminine man, but she had ignored them. For future scenarios, Merlin knew not to let someone misgender her again. Not only was it inconsiderate of the trans community, but it also got her into situations such as these. Now, she had to come up with a time and a way to tell Arthur the truth, even if only eventually. 

However, she couldn't come up with a great reveal. It was six in the morning at the moment, and she was binding her chest carefully in front of the mirror to prepare herself for a long hard day of work. She needed to be the hardworking man Arthur thought she was and wanted her to continue to be. 

When she arrived, she was glad to see that Arthur was already there, organising some coffee-making materials behind the counters. When she entered, however, she could see that Guinevere was there, too, looking partially done with the flower painting on the wall. She was a painter, then. A sweet, beautiful, lovely, feminine painter. 

"Hello, Merlin," Arthur called as soon as she entered, pulling her to his side and ruffling her hair. "Say hi to Gwen." 

"I'm Gwen," she said, extending a hand to Merlin. "How do you two know each other?" 

"It's a long story," Arthur said, waving it off and not mentioning the fact that Merlin had been the one to rescue Gwen's purse. "Well, Merlin, you can clean up for us, and maybe do some more cleaning around the place, while Gwen and I get breakfast, yeah?" 

"I'm not your servant," she retorted indignantly, but he ignored her. He was already leaving with Gwen towards the door. Did they spend the whole night here? _Together_? But Arthur had said that she wasn't available! Frustrated, Merlin began kicking the partially painted wall, mutter under her breath about the pratty Arthur and awfully queen-like Guinevere. 

The day didn't show much progress, even though Arthur returned to the café without Gwen. At the same time that he arrived, so did their coffee bean order, which turned out to be several twenty kilogram sacks of coffee beans. Merlin and Arthur stared at them in horror, as the deliverers dragged them in. That was definitely too many beans to last a lifetime. She distinctly remembered telling Percy to order sacks of two kilograms. However, not wanting to blame either him or the coffee bean delivery, she faced Arthur's accusatory glare head on. 

"I'm sorry for the order of the mistaken amount," she said apologetically, taking the blame. It turned out to be the wrong thing to do. 

"Merlin," Arthur said through gritted teeth, walking in the direction of the storage room. "Come here." 

Merlin followed him, seeing the blatant anger on his features as an indicator. She probably needed to tell him that it wasn't actually her fault, before he killed her by accident. She didn't have the chance, however. As soon as they were alone, he started yelling at her. 

"I can't believe you could be so irresponsible," he began, almost at a shout already. "I step aside for a single hour, and you already screw everything up. My mother has left me with a tight budget and an expectation of increasing profit. How am I supposed to do that now, with no refund for these coffee beans? I can't, that's the problem!" 

Gaius, who had heard Arthur's steadily raising voice, snapped, "Arthur, please stop yelling at him! You've berated him enough!" 

"How can you defend him?!" Arthur asked, turning back to face Merlin, smirking when he saw her wipe her eyes. "And you're going to cry to win my pity? Definitely not. I mistook you for being a decent and hardworking person, but I was wrong. If you're not going to take this job seriously, then you better quit as soon as possible."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is currently unbeta-ed. I don't have a beta at the moment, so if you're interested in beta-ing this fic for me or doing a beta-ing exchange, please let me know.


	4. Cup 4

Arthur burst out of the storage room, unable to stand in front of an incredibly hurt Merlin without losing his cool completely. Gwen, who had been waiting near the other side of the swinging door, stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. 

"You seem really worked up, Arthur," she said sympathetically. "Do you wanna go for a walk to clear your head? Yelling at Merlin won't solve anything." 

Arthur took a deep breath, following Gwen outside. They walked down the street in a comfortable silence, while he tried to take his thoughts off of Merlin. Eventually, he was convinced it was impossible. Why did that twerp have to get in his way more often than not? Yes, Arthur did feel slightly guilty for diving him to tears, but ordering bags of twenty kilograms of coffee beans was the idiot's fault and an incredible waste of money. He'd have to think of putting them to use, somehow. 

"You know, even though you did lose your temper, I think it's good that you're so passionate about something for once in your life," Gwen said, looking over at him. "You're usually completely apathetic, but this has changed that about you." 

"You're right," he muttered. "But I feel like I prefer apathy to passionate anger. It's not going to help me help renovate Coffee Prince in the least." 

"You're right," she said. "But you'll return in a calmer state of mind, work it out with Merlin, and then go back to being the new, productive Arthur Pendragon you are. Cheer up, hmm?" 

Arthur rolled his eyes, still unable to calm down completely. Suddenly, Gwen grabbed his hand, swinging their joined arms wildly up and down, as if they were little kids. She began skipping, pulling him along. 

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked with a mock pout, jogging a little to keep up. 

"Cheering you up, like I did years ago," she called back to him. "Arthur, let your anger go and have fun!" 

Arthur finally complied with a smile, skipping after her. He hoped taking his mind off of things would make it easier for him to talk to Merlin without exploding in anger again. 

~ 

"Percy, why the hell did you order sacks of twenty kilograms?" Merlin shouted. "I gave you the task, and you completely screwed it up, making Arthur explode in my face. Why can't you actually think about what you're doing while you're doing it? You're going to get someone killed this way!" 

"I don't even remember if I said twenty or two kilograms, Merlin!" Percy complained. "Look at yourself, yelling at me like Boss yelled at you! You're no better!" 

"I wasn't the one who did such a stupid thing!" Merlin retorted. "Why couldn't you have spoken up that it was your fault to get yourself fired instead of me? What if I actually get fired? How am I going to pay for precious Freya's school bills, huh?" 

"I don't want Boss to be angry at me either, you know!" Percy whined. 

"God, you're just a coward," Merlin groaned. "Now I have to come up with a way to put all these beans to good use." 

"Calm down, Merlin," Gaius called, from where he was cooking something behind the counter. "I'm roasting the beans right now. We can roast some kilograms and sell them." 

"That's a good idea, Gaius," Arthur said from the entrance to the café, where he had appeared with Gwen. "Actually, I was thinking along the lines of giving out bags with a kilogram of roasted beans each to promote the opening of Coffee Prince. As soon as Gaius finishes roasting a few kilograms, I expect all of you to get to work delivering around the block. Yeah?" 

"Yes, boss!" Percy and Leon both replied eagerly. Merlin, who was sitting down next to Gaius near the counter and unpacking sack of beans, didn't respond. Arthur approached her slowly, with an intrigued-looking Leon at his back. 

"Merlin," Arthur said absently, but she didn't respond. Even though he was her boss now, she couldn't deal with him treating her like a rag, to soak in his anger and every stupid command. "Merlin, answer me!" 

Merlin continued to ignore him, needing to teach the prat a lesson. Even if she had been at fault with the coffee beans, the way he was treating her still would have been no way to talk to a worker. He needed to stop acting like he was royalty, especially, when he hadn't even done anything to deserve the job. His mother had been the one to accomplish everything for him his entire life. 

"Merlin, I was doing so well in forgiving you for your mistake," Arthur complained. "I just want you to admit that it was your fault." 

Merlin realised that it would simply be easier to point her finger at Percy and place the blame on him, but there was still a lesson to be learned from all of this. 

"Merlin!" Arthur full-out yelled. "If you can't cooperate, or merely _respond_ to your _boss_ , then I suggest you take your things and kindly leave without ruining anything, even more than you already have." 

Merlin got up to storm out, not being able to take this anymore. Arthur followed, but Percy ran in front of her, protecting her from Arthur's wrath. 

"Please, Boss, it wasn't his fault," he begged, even getting down on his knees. "He gave me the job of ordering the coffee beans, and I accidentally ordered twenty kilograms instead of two. Blame me instead. You've yelled at Merlin enough." 

Arthur's eyes slid over toward Merlin guiltily. "Oh," he could only muttered. Merlin rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance, storming out to the front pavement. Surprisingly, Gwen followed, sitting on the bench next to her. 

"I'm sorry that you feel wrongly accused," she said kindly. "I felt wrongly accused, too, once, in high school. I'd say that the situation was a lot worse than this one. I liked one of my teachers, who turned out to be a perverted pedophile. He flashed me, after I stayed behind to ask him a genuine question about what he was teaching." 

"That honestly sounds absolutely terrifying," Merlin breathed in horror. 

"It was," Gwen confirmed. "He was fired after I reported it, but my 'friends' had blamed me for provoking him by acting bashful around him. What the hell, right? It was such a traumatic experience, and they dared to blame me? I've been trying to call idiotic people out on their misogyny ever since." 

"What about the fact that Arthur's only hiring men at Coffee Prince?" Merlin asked half-jokingly. 

"Oh, I've talked to him about it," Gwen said, waving it off. "This _is_ only the first shop of Coffee Prince, after all. He promised to hire female employees, if the business becomes big enough for more employees. But seriously, Merlin, don't be too angry or disappointed with Arthur. He's a great guy, deep down in his heart. He might blow up at first, but he can't keep a grudge forever." 

"Maybe not at you," Merlin muttered. "You're beautiful, artistic, and impossibly kind." 

"Well, yes," she responded in a joking tone. "But I'm definitely not humble as often as I should be." 

"Yeah, well," Merlin said, trailing off. "You know, I used to like art. Or, I focused a lot in the class, because I liked the teacher." 

"A good-looking teacher, then?" Gwen asked with a knowing smile. 

"Yeah, he was hot," Merlin said with a grin, before suddenly realising what she had said. "Umm... I mean-" 

"Merlin, it's fine," Gwen assured him. "It doesn't matter who you like to me, or probably to many others. Besides, I liked most of my female teachers, too." 

Merlin nodded slowly. She really didn't know what she was trying to convey about herself to the rest of the world at this point. To make them all believe she was a man, she had simply acted as herself. Now, when she _needed_ them to believe her, it was like an extra pressure weighing on her entire body. 

When she walked inside, Arthur approached her with a relieved smile on his face. He shifted from left to right, as if trying to find the courage to say something. Hopefully, it was an apology, even though it was doubtful that the prat would ever admit he was wrong. 

"Listen, Merlin," he began apologetically. "Even if it's not you who made the wrong order, it was still your responsibility, since I put you in charge. But I forgive you." 

"Oh?" she asked bitterly. "You forgive me. _You_ forgive _me_? That's hilarious, _Boss_." 

"Come on, Merlin, don't be mad!" he begged, grabbing Merlin in a friendly headlock, ruffling her hair. She quickly got out of it, leaving out the last part of the defence technique, which included striking a knife hand to the corner of the jaw. She noted the blatant surprise on his face and the slight hurt, but she could have none of it. 

"You are completely disregarding my feelings right now," she growled at him. "Only your own feelings matter to you. To you, everything's fine, as long as you're not mad. Well, guess what? It doesn't work that way. Everyone else's feelings, like mine, for example, should matter at least a little bit to you." 

Arthur didn't say a word, and neither did the rest of the workers, so she turned on her heel and left. She had walked on foot today, so she stopped by a market to buy several bottles of beer. Not enough to get wasted for her, but enough to take the edge off. However, even when she was finishing her first bottle, she was too swept up in her irritation to notice that she was walking by Lancelot's home. 

"Merlin!" he called, waving to her, when she looked over. She looked down at her two unopened bottles of beer. Reluctantly, she decided to share one with Lance. Maybe it would make her feel better to drink in someone's company. 

"You look extremely pissed off at something today," Lancelot said gently, taking the beer bottles from her hands and setting them at his patio table in front of her. "Would you like to share it with me?" 

Merlin plopped down in the second chair with a sigh, mulling over about what she could say. 

"A friend of mine was wrongly accused of something," she muttered. "It was her fault, because she took responsibility for it, even though she wasn't actually the person to make the mistake. However, she shouldn't have done that, because it made this one guy get extremely angry with her. It was a lot more than she deserved." 

"How about he’ll be Guy D, and she’ll be Girl E?" Lance suggested. 

"Fine," Merlin responded. "Guy D used to be really friendly with Girl E, but after the mistake, he exploded in her face about her being useless and unneeded. Even though he isn't angry anymore, she is, because he has no idea how to properly apologise for saying all of those hurtful things." 

"Does Girl E like Guy D?" Lance asked suddenly. 

"No!" Merlin responded quickly, shocked. "They're friends. She thought they were, at least. They also have a boss and employee relationship. Its not a love relationship at all. It's just..." 

"Just what?" Lance prodded. 

"Just..." Merlin trailed off again, suddenly not being able to finish her thought. She didn't know what the 'just' between her and Arthur was. 

"Just... a little more than friends?" Lance suggested. 

"No," she said again, shaking her head vigorously. "They _are_ only friends. And the reason for that is... For Girl E, there's Guy A..." 

Merlin trailed off, looking nervously at Lance, who was watching her both seriously and kindly. She realised that she had confessed to him, thrusted her feelings into his face, and yet he was only being accepting of her. It was wrong of Merlin, as Lance had a girlfriend and a loving relationship, but she couldn't help it. He was such a great guy that she simply couldn't. 

"Um, I'm happy to see Knight again," she said awkwardly, averting her eyes from Lance and instead watching his sheepdog, who was panting by them happily. She got down to her knees, ruffling his fur and petting him behind the ears, until he was trying to lick her face in appreciation. 

"This girl makes you feel great, doesn't she?" Lance asked Knight with a smile, kneeling besides them. "Merlin, let me walk you home. Just in case, you know, you fall over from having drunk too much beer." 

"What makes you think I have low tolerance?" she replied indignantly, standing up and taking Knight's leash. Lance should see Arthur, really. Now, _Arthur_ was someone, who would be lying on his face from the alcohol already. 

They walked to her flat block in comfortable silence, with only Merlin breaking it occasionally to say niceties to Knight, or kneel besides him to put her arms around his big furry body. After she stopped them in front of her building door, Merlin and Lance stood without a word for a few moments, looking at each other. 

"You know, this is the first time anyone has ever walked me home," she muttered, looking down in embarrassment. 

"Is it really?" Lance asked in an amused surprise. "Anytime you're feeling lonely, Merlin, you can call me. I'll be sure to walk you home." 

"Thanks, Lance," she said, turning to go. However, instead of entering her building, she turned around, watching as Lance and Knight made their way back down the street in the peaceful quiet of the evening. 

The next morning, Merlin tried to steer clear of Arthur. Eventually, though, he called all of them over to the centre floor. The waffle vendor man was standing there, looking extremely uncomfortable. Merlin noticed that he had shaved his moustache and beard, but his shoulder-length hair remained. 

"Um, does the job offer still stand?" he asked reluctantly. "My waffle business is not always as great as it was the day you stopped by. I'm Gwaine Macken, by the way." 

"Yes, the offer still stands, Gwaine," Arthur said seriously. "We'd love the help, especially since our opening is approaching." 

"You're an extremely good-looking guy, Gwaine," Percy commented. "Are you a girl? I can't tell." 

"I could be neither, and it wouldn't matter," Gwaine retorted. Merlin felt grateful, having been on the receiving end of these comments quite often. 

"You know, Percy, you're one to talk," Merlin huffed. "It's hard to tell with you, too - whether you're a human or a gorilla." 

While Percy sputtered indignantly, Gwaine muttered something in French under his breath. 

"You're French?" Merlin asked in surprise. "That's really cool. You speak perfect English. Being bilingual is great, isn't it?" 

"It is, isn’t it," Gwaine responded sarcastically. "It'll gives me the chance to complain about all of you under my breath." 

~ 

The music filled the halls of Gwen's building, spilling through every single crack in the flat's walls, the piano keys, and her heart. It was a serenade Lance had composed for her, and its beauty made her whole soul ache. 

She knew that she had brought Lance so much pain by leaving him, but she hadn't known what else to do. It felt right at the time to distance herself from him. Eventually, however, it resulted not only in his heartbreak, but hers, too. She knew how to hide it, how to be with Lance without worries about their relationship overtaking her. However, hearing this sweet melody made her rethink everything. 

It was beautiful, and it was hers. She simply hoped that it wouldn't be enough to cause her undue pain in the future. 

~ 

To celebrate their upcoming opening and the hard work that they put in to prepare for it, Leon proposed for all of Coffee Prince's workers to go out to dinner together. Initially, they all refused. They had their differences, and none of them got along perfectly. However, Leon was right in that they would all have to work together closely soon, so they might as well get used to each other's company. 

They decided to go to a barbecue place, since Merlin managed to convince them that she would be kicked out of a fancy diner. Arthur agreed wholeheartedly, testifying that Merlin could devour anything and everything in mere seconds. Gaius simply shook his head in disappointment, but Merlin could detect mirth in his eyes. 

Despite being warned, all five of them still stared at her in disbelief, as she finished five chicken legs before they could even go on to their second one. 

"God, Merls, you are quite disgusting," Leon said cheerfully. "You'd eat anything, wouldn't you?" 

Merlin didn't respond, since she was too busy eating. 

"I think we should test that," Leon commented, throwing a piece of his chicken on the ground. Merlin glared at him through her mouthful. She eyed the piece of the perfect chicken that was lying on the floor, before diving after it. The men groaned in combined disgust and laughter. 

"Let's create a new adjective in the name of Merlin," Leon said, as she clambered back into the booth. "I don't think there's a currently existing adjective or an adverb that properly describes her behaviour. Merlin-like, for example. It means to be really cute and disgusting at the same time." 

"Merlin-ly means to act in a really cute and disgusting way at the same time," Gwaine offered. 

"Merlin-esque, to describe an action that is cute and disgusting at the same time." 

"To pull a Merlin," Arthur suggested through a chuckle. "It means-" 

"Actually," Merlin began indignantly, "To be Arthur-like, Arthur-ly, Arthur-esque, and to pull an Arthur means to be a prat and an annoying clotpole with a fussy personality and an extremely bad temper." 

Arthur gaped, his cheeks reddening in embarrassment, while the whole table cheered in a course of proud "Ohhhh!"'s, banging on the table with their beer bottles. 

Arthur wasn't drinking, but the rest of them were. Percy had drunk more than anyone, apparently, since he was obviously out of it. He now leaned towards every single one of the guys, trying to kiss them to express his feelings of their new life-long friendship. They leaned away from him disgustedly and swatted at his large arms. Merlin rolled her eyes, continuing to eat the rice, which came on the side with her chicken. She shouldn't have stopped paying attention, because the table between them didn't stop Percy from leaning in and planting a kiss on her lips. The whole table collectively gasped in horror. 

"Percy, what do you think you're doing?" Leon exclaimed. "Merlin's mine!" 

"What?" Arthur snapped immediately. "No, he's mine!" 

Merlin ignored their claims of ownership. They could all dream on. Instead, she whacked Percy on the top of the head, pushing him away from her and back down in his seat across from her. Grabbing the appetiser bell peppers, which lied on the table, she stuffed them in his nose. Both his level of shock and incomprehension and the rest of their horrified expressions made her explode in laughter. The rest of them followed suit. 

The next day was the opening of Coffee Prince, and Merlin could call the publicity a success. All of the drinks served today were free, but she didn't know whether that was the only thing that attracted a crowd of visitors. However, for the time being, there were full crowds of people, with almost every single table both outside and inside being filled. Merlin was relieved to see that her family was here, too, showing their support. Freya chatted with some of her classmates, while her mother leaned across the counter, engrossed in a conversation with Gaius. Merlin knew the Gaius was considerably older than her mother, but it didn't stop Hunith from flirting with him during their every meeting. Merlin rolled her eyes, re-focusing on preparing coffee for a few of the tables. 

After she served a few tables outside, she turned to go back in, only to run into a familiar figure, who had just been making his way inside. 

"Lance!" she exclaimed. He whirled around, smiling when he saw her. "I didn't even tell you about Coffee Prince! How did you know that today was our opening?" 

"Oh, Arthur's my brother," he explained simply. "Well, half-brother. We have the same mother, but we grew up in the same household. I came to show my support." 

Merlin's understanding of the universe crashed down around her. Lancelot and Arthur... were...? _What_? 

"Wait," Lance said in a shock. "You're wearing a waiter's uniform. You work here?" 

"Yeah, Lance, here's the thing," Merlin said, grabbing his arm and pulling him aside, suddenly realised what all of this meant for her. "Arthur doesn't know I'm a girl. I didn't correct him, when he first thought I was a man, and now I'm pretty sure he would fire me immediately, if he found out the truth, both because of my deceit, and because he's only hiring men for his first shop. So please, Lance, pretend I'm a guy, okay? Male pronouns only?" 

"Okay, Merlin, I got you," Lance said, looking too amused by all of this. "So Arthur is Guy D, then?" 

"Yes," Merlin said through gritted teeth. 

"And Guy D thinks Girl E is a boy?" Lance asked, chuckling. "I can see how that can be a problem, especially for Arthur. But Merlin, you're nothing like a man. I can tell right away that you identify as a woman." 

"Okay, well, it's not obvious to Arthur, so please just-" 

"Don't worry, Merlin," Lance assured her. "I'll keep your secret." 

~ 

After the café closed for the day, Arthur couldn't help but feel like the number of customers had been a false alarm. Until the business officially started tomorrow, with no free serving, there was no way of knowing, whether today had been a success. 

He lingered behind in the shop with Merlin, who was diligently mopping the floor. Watching him work once again made him feel intensely guilty, so he approached him warily. 

"Merlin, I'm heading out," he told him, causing the younger man to look up in surprise. "Would you like a ride to your flat?" 

"Thanks, Arthur," he said, smiling genuinely. Arthur turned awkwardly, going to wait outside to lock up, after Merlin followed him out. As they were walking to his car, however, he received an incoming call. 

_"Arthur?"_ came Gwen's voice over the phone. 

"Oh, hello, my dear friend," he told her, an inevitable smile breaking out. 

_"You wanna come over right now?"_ she asked with a reciprocated smile. _"I have a surprise for you."_

"Oo, a surprise?" he asked in mock excitement, which was mixed in with genuine happiness at the prospect of seeing her again. "I'll be right over." 

He looked over to Merlin, who had been eyeing him warily throughout the conversation. Noticing Arthur looking back at him, Merlin waved him off nonchalantly. 

"I'll find my way home, don't worry," he said, albeit with poorly-hidden dismay. "Go have fun with Gwen." 

"Thank you Merlin," Arthur said gratefully, pulling him into a quick hug. "I'll see you at work tomorrow." 

Leaving Merlin behind him, Arthur got in his car, speeding away towards Gwen's flat. When he arrived at her doorstep, she opened the door to him, her soft smiling melting his heart. 

"Do you wanna come in?" she asked him, smoothing down the ruffled shoulders of his polo shirt. 

"I'm too tired at the moment, Gwen," he confessed. "If I'm with you and too tired to be careful, I'll find myself accidentally reaching out to hold your hand." 

"Try not to," she said with a disapproving look, running her finger gently down his nose. Arthur sighed, stopping himself from leaning into her touch. After a few seconds, Gwen stepped back, retrieving a gift bag from the counter nearby. She handed it to Arthur. 

"Here," she said. "This is both a present for your early birthday and an apology gift for not showing up today. You'll forgive me for that, won't you? I'll make sure to stop at Coffee Prince in the future." 

Arthur nodded slowly, accepting the gift bag. 

"Hurry home, and open the gift there," she told him. "Afterwards, go to sleep. I'm sure that you've worked hard today." 

Arthur complied, turning to go. He felt as if he were in a daze. Gwen undoubtedly knew her effect on him, but that didn't make him angry at her for flirting with him, not in the least. He understood his boundaries, and simple conversations with her made his world explode with light. 

When he returned home, he opened the gift, which turned out to be a sewn, stuffed little toy of the Arthur from the Arthurian legends. Mini Arthur was wearing a red cape and a knight's armour. One of his hands was lifted in the air, holding a little sword. After Arthur pressed the button on the bottom of Mini Arthur's foot, he began to wave his armed hand in the area, shouting, "You'll never escape now!" 

Arthur chuckled, removing Gwen's note from his gift bag as well. _Are you laughing?_ it read. _Laugh just like that! Happy birthday, Arthur._

~ 

As Merlin had predicted, Coffee Prince felt deserted the next day. A few customers stopped by in the morning before work, but the hot afternoon left Merlin, Percy, Leon, Gwaine, and Gaius without anything to do. Arthur had warned them that he would be busy elsewhere that day, so they simply sat on the patio outside, engrossed in their own activities. 

"Hey, Merlin," Percy asked suddenly. "Are you still seeing my Angel? She refuses to see me, so I can't help but blame it on you. You don't seem to care about her at all." 

"You're dating someone?" Leon asked in astonishment. "Merls, who? And who is this Angel that he keeps talking about?" 

Merlin waved him off. She approached Percy warily, sizing him up. 

"What, you want to go through with that fight that we never got around to?" she asked him. 

"I have it all planned out already," he told her, pulling her over to the patch of dirt near the patio. "A digging contest would be a good way to show you how much stronger I am." 

"I can take your word for it," Merlin promised him. When he thrust a shovel from the storage room in her hand, she rolled her eyes and blew the bangs out of her eyes in annoyance. 

"The person who digs up the biggest pile of dirt in five minutes wins," he said seriously. "Leon, Gwaine, can you count us off?" 

Gwaine simply smirked, crossing his arms. Leon bounded over excitedly. "Ready... set... go!" he yelled. 

Percy began digging, using all of his incredible muscle power to keep piling up dirt. Merlin didn't even start, simply watching on in amusement, as Percy tried his best not to overexert yourself. 

"Hey!" Percy protested, as soon as he realised, that Merlin hadn’t even lifted a finger. "Why aren't you shovelling?" 

"My measure of strength isn't going to decide where Freya's heart lies," Merlin pointed out, watching from the corner of her eye, as Gwaine began to quietly crack up. "How about you dig in front of her, instead?" 

"If you can't dig, let's have a drinking contest, instead," Percy said, ignoring Merlin's protests, as he pulled buckets out of the storage room and filled them with tap water. "You seem to be quite great at eating, but can you drink a bucketful of water faster than me?" 

Despite all of Percy's begging, Merlin didn't even begin to drink from the bucket after Leon’s “ready, set, go”. Instead, she watched as Percy took big gulps, unsuccessfully trying to stop him from drinking so much for absolutely no reason. 

Just as he was finishing drinking from the bucket, a fuming Arthur emerged from the inside of the café. They all froze, turning to face him guiltily. His eyes landed on Gaius, who was dozing in a seat under the tree nearby. He approached him, waking up with a yell and a clap, almost causing the poor man to fall over in shock. Then, he turned their glare on them. 

"I leave you alone for a few hours, and this is what I see?" he asked angrily. "I understand why we have no customers today, but with your behaviour, it won’t be surprising, if no one shows up ever again!" 

They stood in silence, having nothing to say. Merlin bowed her head in embarrassment. Arthur was right this time. 

"Leon, Percy, Gwaine, Merlin," he said grumpily. "Follow me." 

He led them to a park nearby, which contained a beautiful fountain on the pavement near the grassy field. The four of them looked at each other, trying to figure out what kind of punishment Arthur had in store for them. 

"All of you appear to be fit young men," he said. "Get into pushup position." 

They complied without a word, lowering themselves down to a plank. Merlin had done this quite often during martial arts conditioning, but her muscles felt out of practice. Nevertheless, even after about three minutes of holding it, she pushed herself on, forcing herself to remain completely silent, as well. 

"Merlin and Percival, you seem so inclined to fight each other," Arthur said, slowly circling the four of them, like a shark preparing to pounce. "How about you fight me, instead? Two on one, good old-fashioned free sparring, not for points. The rest of you, remain in plank. You better hold it." 

Merlin breathed a sigh of relief, getting to her feet. She knew sparring. It wasn't her favourite thing, but she could do it quite well. She could probably stay lightly on her feet for awhile, if he asked. 

Arthur didn't ask. He simply faced them in a sparring stance, bouncing on his feet. Merlin followed suit, eyeing Percy, who was moving with way too much energy. At that level, he would burn out really soon. 

Merlin began throwing punches and kicks at twenty five percent, which Arthur deflected. Percy followed suit, going closer to ninety percent,but Arthur defended himself flawlessly. He knew how to box really well, Merlin could tell. He would clearly make a good sparring partner. Percy and Merlin took turns going at Arthur, who never came into the offence himself. Whenever she wasn't attacking, Merlin was bouncing lightly. Continuous motion in a fight was the key component to preventing the enemy from noticing a punch or a kick. Merlin couldn't simply face Arthur in a sparring stance without moving. 

After about thirty minutes of endless sparring, Merlin began to acknowledge the growing ache in her entire body. Arthur barely seemed winded, but she didn't claim to be in a better shape than him. Her head began to spin. The burn in her calves made her want to simply crumple to the ground and give up. Breathing was more difficult than she ever remembered it being. Regulating it slowly became impossible. Occasionally, she brushed her sweaty hair out of her face, but even that proved to be too much energy. Eventually, she had to stop bouncing, saving the last drop of energy to attack Arthur. 

Percy was doing even worse. After about another five minutes of pure torture, he gave up completely, raising his hands in defeat. He collapsed near Leon and Gwaine, who had long stopped trying to pretend to stay in the plank position. Arthur turned to Merlin with a small shrug, attacking her for the first time. She barely managed to defend and counter, but she told herself to ignore the signals that her body was sending her. This was undoubtedly Arthur's test for her. She wanted to show him that she could pass, even if not with flying colours. 

After another minute, Arthur finally called time. Merlin collapsed on the ground right there and then, barely holding down the intense pain in her stomach. Arthur sat down next to her with slightly more control, rubbing her back and leaning her against his shoulder. 

"You're cool, Merlin," he told her, as she tried to regain her ability to breathe. "For giving it your all without giving up until the end, you're cool." 

He pulled her up to her feet, pushing her gently in the direction of the fountain. He waved to the rest of the guys to follow, and they did gratefully. When Merlin approached it, she stood on its edge, raising both of her arms in victory. Arthur stood up on the step next to her. Percy, Leon, and Gwaine ran towards them as fast as their aching limbs allowed them, climbing up next to them, too. 

"We should all go for a swim," Arthur suggested, waving towards the fountain behind them. Cheers came from the guys, but Merlin could only shake her head. 

"A swim feels nice, but the water is extremely dirty, no doubt, not to mention co _ah_!" 

Arthur's hands came around her, pulling her into the fountain with him. As soon as she surfaced, she glared pointedly at the rest of them, who were laughing hysterically. She began splashing them, but there was no need. Percy grabbed both of their arms, jumping into the water with them. 

The water wasn't that cold. In fact, for the hot air outside and Merlin’s aching body, it was quite perfect. 

~ 

When Arthur returned to the café in wet clothing with his laughing friends, his smile was wiped immediately off of his face at seeing Gaius firm expression. 

"What is it?" Arthur asked him seriously. 

"I don't appreciate the way you act with me, Arthur," Gaius told him, crossing his arms. "Our position in Coffee Prince is equal. If there are no customers, I reserve the right to take a nap if I so please. You don't have the right to boss me around, like I'm another one of your employees. The only reason that we've done any business so far is from my ability to roast coffee beans and make satisfactory coffee." 

"The only reason we _have_ a business, is because I took the time to work on improving this place," Arthur shot back, pounding a fist on the counter. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have never gotten around to transforming Coffee Prince into a desirable coffee shop." 

"Okay, okay, okay, that's enough now," Merlin said, pulling Arthur by the arms, away from Gaius. "There's no need working yourself up all over again." 

Arthur complied, turning away from Gaius but shaking off Merlin. As soon as he stepped outside, he receive a ring from his mother. 

"Hello, Mother," he said tiredly into his mobile. 

_"I heard that business at the Coffee Prince hasn't been going well today,"_ she said coldly. Arthur sighed. He should have expected her to have spies trained on him everywhere. 

"Yes, we were just talking about it," he told her. "It isn't my fault, but I'm going to think of a solution to it soon." 

_"See that you do,"_ she told him. _"Here I was, thinking you'd be ready to go to the States-"_

"The States?" he asked in confusion. "Why?" 

_"Well, I've found you an opportunity to be involved in Pendragon Inc. in New York, but only your success with Coffee Prince can prove to me that you're ready to become involved in my business,"_ she told him. _"Going to university isn't everything. Make sure to bring those sales up, or I’ll start reporting them to your father.”_

"Will you mail me the information about the opportunity?" he asked her. "And I promise that I _will_ find a way to bring up the sale figures." 

_"Yes, I'll email you,"_ she told him. _"Don't disappoint me, Arthur."_

Arthur hung up, sighing. His mother was right: only experience could help a person become better at business. He needed to work on those sale figures soon, before she actually went through with her threat of revealing his failures to his father. 

On his way home that afternoon, he received a ring from Lance. They hadn't had the opportunity to talk properly for quite sometime, so he picked up gratefully. Their conversation included much of everything. It jumped from Lance's new album, to Gwen, to his mother's constant pressure, to Coffee Prince. Eventually, however, Lance asked him about Merlin. 

_"How did you even meet him, Arthur?"_ he asked curiously. 

"Well, it really is a rather long story. But basically, Merlin and I kept running into one another, and he kept badgering me for money. He wouldn't leave me alone for a sodding minute. He was even the one, who convinced me to take on Coffee Prince, but only because he himself needed a job. What about you? How do _you_ know him?” 

_"Oh, he delivers milk in the mornings in my neighbourhood,"_ Lance responded. _"He stopped to talk to Knight once, which was how I noticed him. We often chat, when he passes by in the evenings."_

"I see," Arthur said, feeling slightly discomforted by Lance's words. "Merlin's a funny guy, isn't he? There's just something about him." 

_"Definitely,"_ Lance responded through a laugh. 

~ 

Merlin loved staying at Coffee Prince until closing time. She had done it quite often, even before Arthur had shown up with his golden mane and snobby attitude. Gaius had taught her how to pour coffee like a proper barista, as well as how to perfectly decorate the cream. Even now, without any customers, she liked staying behind and practising. It was truly an art form she wholeheartedly appreciated. 

As she was pouring herself a cup that evening, Arthur returned, closing the door behind him. He looked up, noticing Merlin's presence in surprise. 

"What are you doing here, Merlin?" he asked distastefully. 

"I might ask you the same thing," she said, waving him over. "Wanna learn to pour coffee, Arthur?" 

"Is that what you're doing?" he asked, taking her newly poured cup, after she gave him a nod of permission. After tasting it slowly, a smile of appreciation appeared on his face. "Merlin, it's delicious. The concentration of the coffee and cream is quite right." 

"Does that mean you'd like a lesson?" she asked eagerly, already getting a second cup. 

"Well, I don't think it's in my right as the manager of this coffee shop to decline," he responded with a cheeky smile. She smiled back, placing his hands in the correct positions of the coffee kettle. 

"You pour the coffee first, then add cream, and then pour the coffee again, gently, to create the design," she began. "But when you pour, you must keep it at a distance from yourself. Steady arm, loose wrist." 

Arthur complied, following her instructions. When he reached the step of the on-cream design, she placed his hand over his on the handle, guiding his wrist gently to create a leaf. 

"Try it," she suggested in a teasing voice. "Hopefully, it's as good as mine." 

Arthur did, quickly finishing the cup after the first sip. "I don't understand why we don't have customers," he joked. 

"We'll just have to work harder," she assured him. 

"Yes, we will," he agreed. "Thank you for the coffee, Merlin. As much I would love to waste my evening on meaningless conversation with you, however, I came here to do work. I'd prefer to do it alone." 

"What kind of work?" she asked eagerly. "I can help you, probably." 

"I said, go home, _Mer_ lin," Arthur whined, trying to push her towards the door. "I can't concentrate with anyone else here, anyways. It's business related. My mother offered an opportunity for me to go to New York to work for Pendragon Inc., but only if I succeed with Coffee Prince. I'm going to be figuring out sales figures tonight." 

"You might go to the States?" Merlin asked in astonishment. 

"Like I said, I don't know yet," Arthur replied with a sigh. "Did you listen to the bit, where I said that I wanted to be alone? Do you even know what that means, Merlin?" 

"Fine, fine, I'm going," she said, raising her hands in defeat. "I'm going, even if you beg me not to. I have things to do, too, Arthur. I’ve got to brush my teeth, wash my hair, go to sleep, dream some dreams. But first-" 

" _Mer_ lin," Arthur warned. 

"-I've got to sing you happy birthday!" she finished excitedly. She felt bad for driving Arthur to such anger the morning, especially since it was a day, when he should have been the one relaxing. She wanted to make it up to him by acknowledging it. She had learned about it from Gaius, who had muttered it under his breath, after Arthur went outside to take a phone call earlier. 

She sang a modern quick version, which included much clapping but not much singing. It suited her, since singing was not one of the things she liked doing or did well. However, the fact that she knew it was his birthday in the first place made him simply stand in a stupor and watch her in surprise. She took that opportunity to escape as quickly as possible. 

When she was falling asleep later that night across the room from her sister, she couldn't help but wonder if Arthur going to America would be a good or bad thing for her. 

"Freya," she said quietly. 

"Yeah?" Freya whispered back. 

"Well, there's this guy-" she began. She stopped, however, when Freya erupted in giggles. 

"Really?" Freya asked. "I think this is the first time that you've ever started a conversation about a guy. Or a girl, for that matter. What, are you straight?" 

"Yes," Merlin growled. "Masculinity doesn’t always mean being a lesbian, for your information. But anyways, he might be leaving the country soon, and I don't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed." 

"Well, when you figure it out, let me know," Freya said. "How's Gwaine doing?" 

"Don't tell me you like Gwaine, too?" Merlin groaned. "Just like the rest of those high school girls, who stick around for his waffles? You _do_ know that Percy keeps asking me about you, right? Does he still think that he has a chance with you? You shouldn't lead him on like that, since you like someone else. It isn't fair to him." 

"Who says I can't like two guys at the same time?" Freya asked. "I think I'm starting to like Percy, too, or at least the attention he gives me. Besides, the two guys syndrome is something our family has. You've seen mum flirt with Gaius. You think he's the only one? She flirts with the butcher, too." 

"Do I like two different people?" Merlin said, more to herself than to Freya. 

"Well, what's the situation?" her sister asked. 

"There is one guy," she began softly. "He has a girlfriend, so we're simply friends. However, every time I see him, he’s nothing but warm and welcoming. He doesn't mind talking to me, giving me the time of day. He’s incredibly considerate. Besides, his deep voice is simply amazing. 

"And then there's another guy. Sometimes, he can be a supportive friend. At other times, he's incredibly irritating, which leads us to having terrible fights. He's not a bad person, but he's not an angel, either. But he feels _real_ , you know? A person with real emotions and problems, which makes me want to comfort him." 

"That’s definitely the two guy syndrome," Freya said. A sly smile was evident in her voice. "An unrequited love with both of them, it seems? And neither of them know of your affections?" 

"Nope," Merlin confirmed with a sigh. 

Merlin woke up quite early in the morning, doing the milk deliveries as quickly as possible. She saved one small carton for Arthur, writing him a little note, and made her way to Coffee Prince. 

Arthur was sleeping on the sofa in front of a low coffee table, probably having collapsed there from exhaustion after a night of working. She placed the carton in front of him and leaned towards Arthur across the table. She waved in front of his face and prodded him gently, but he only twitched without waking up. Merlin began blowing in his face softly, wondering if he were ticklish enough to wake up. 

Merlin hadn't realised that she had closed her eyes, but she had. When she opened them, Arthur was staring straight at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I understand that there's some misogyny and double standards going on in the thoughts of the characters and the people that the characters encounter throughout their lives. I hope you guys don't feel too discomforted by that - it's what causes Merlin to run into problems with her gender in the first place.
> 
> This work is currently unbeta-ed. I don't have a beta at the moment, so if you're interested in beta-ing this fic for me or doing a beta-ing exchange, please let me know.


	5. Cup 5

Arthur's and Merlin's eyes met for a few painfully long moments. She was too shocked to do anything about her lips, which were still pursed to blow air at Arthur's face. Thankfully, they were interrupted by Leon, who made his way from the upper floor of the café, banging loudly on the stairs. Merlin straightened up immediately, flushing in embarrassment. It was too late: Leon had already seen them. 

"What are you two doing here, standing so close like that?" he asked sleepily. "Are you two dating?" 

"What?" Merlin sputtered. "Of course not." 

"I might ask what _you_ 're doing here, Leon," Arthur said, getting to his feet, picking up the milk carton and smiling as he read the note attached to it. 

_This is your birthday present!_ she had written. _It expires soon, so drink up quickly!_ Merlin's heart stuttered, as she saw Arthur smile at it. 

Arthur suggested going out for breakfast, so they ended up stopping at a bar nearby. Merlin ordered two servings of omelettes, listening as Leon explained the reason he had stayed at Coffee Prince overnight. 

"I'm sorry for not telling you, Arthur," Leon said. "My parents kicked me out of their home, because I refused to join their family business. Knives and blood aren't really my thing." 

"What kind of a business is it, then?" Merlin asked, looking at her last piece of chicken with dismay. "Are they butchers?" 

Leon only laughed, shaking his head in amusement. Arthur apparently saw Merlin looking around hungrily, because after she finished her chicken completely, he pushed his own beef ribs towards her. With a single nod at him, Merlin devoured them, too. 

"You know, Leon," Merlin said through a mouthful, "Gaius has an available room in his flat. You could go stay with him. It would probably be more comfortable than sleeping upstairs at Coffee Prince." 

Leon agreed to check it out, dragging Arthur and Merlin to Gaius' flat after breakfast. When they arrived, however, they could see that Gwaine was also there, waiting with several large bags by the building. 

"Oh, Gwaine!" Leon exclaimed, running up to him, as soon as he exited the car. "Are you looking for a room at Gaius', too?" 

"Yeah," Gwaine responded awkwardly. "I forgot his flat number, and I didn't write it down. Do you have it?" 

Merlin made her way past them, calling Gaius in and asking him to let them into the bulging. The three of them followed as she led them up the stairs a few floors. She had never been inside Gaius' flat before, but she was sure that it would be a cozy and comfortable enough place for the two of them. When Gaius opened his door to them, however, Merlin could see that she couldn't be farther from the truth. 

She peered around his shoulder, feeling the guys' stunned breath behind her back. From where Merlin stood, she could see how much a mess his flat was. Dirty clothes lied scattered on the floor; plates half-filled with food stood on the coffee table and on the visible kitchen counter. An obvious stench flowed from the room. 

"Gaius," Merlin began, entering the flat cautiously. "You've been expecting Gwaine, haven't you? You couldn't have cleaned a little last night or this morning?" 

"I completely forgot about Gwaine's arrival, Merlin," Gaius said defensively, beginning to clear his tables and pick the clothing off of the floor. 

"I wish I could say that I mean no offence, Gaius, but the state of your flat explains the failure of Coffee Prince, before I arrived," Arthur commented, crinkling his nose. 

"You don't have to be here at the moment, Arthur," Gaius said bitterly. "Leon, you want to stay here, too?" 

"Um," Leon began, looking like that was the last thing on his mind. 

"Very well," he said, ignoring the young man's hesitation. "You can share the guest room with Gwaine." 

Gwaine made his way to the guest room, which appeared to be cleaner than the rest of the flat. Arthur hung back, appearing not interested in the least. Merlin pushed Leon slightly forward. 

"Leon, you should check it out," she told him. "You can't stay in Coffee Prince forever." 

"At the moment, that sounds really tempting," Leon said with terrified eyes. 

Later in the day, after spending a few hours at work, Merlin realised that Percy was nowhere to be seen. She approached Arthur worriedly, asking if he knew anything about where he was. 

"Oh, he stopped by a few hours ago to let me know that he was quitting," Arthur said, sounding completely indifferent. 

"Excuse me?!" Merlin exclaimed. "Why?" 

"He didn't say," Arthur told her, not even looking up from his laptop. 

"And you didn't ask?" Merlin asked in astonishment. 

"It's none of my business," Arthur said with a shrug. "It's his choice to quit. If he can't handle the responsibilities of working for me, then I don't need him in my business." 

"Arthur, how could you?" Merlin asked, crossing her arms. "I know you haven't known him for long, but do you really not care about him in the least? I'm gonna go find him and ask." 

"Merlin, don't concern-" Arthur began, looking up at her. 

"No, Arthur, I have to concern myself," she told him. "I know that Percy can be a little feisty and dim at times, but he's become my friend. Please excuse me from work for the rest of the day on personal leave, Boss." 

Without waiting for Arthur's response, Merlin stormed out. Getting on her bike, she left in the direction of home, intending to find Freya and ask for Percy's mobile number or address. However, on her way there, she saw him standing at a meat-selling vendor. She pulled to a stop, running up to him. 

"What are you doing here, Percy?" she asked desperately. "Why did you quit your job at Coffee Prince?" 

"It's a personal problem," he exclaimed sadly. "A friend of mine owns this vendor, but he can't work here right now, since he's really sick. I have to take over for him." 

"Why?" she asked, confused. "He's still getting the profit, isn't he? Isn't your own job more important?" 

"It is important, but my friend is important, too," Percy said honestly. "He's always helped me, when I asked him to. I want to and need to return the favour. I didn't want to quit Coffee Prince, believe me. It's one of the first times that I've done something so independently. But things just turned out that way. I'm sorry, Merlin." 

"I'm sorry that they did, Percy," Merlin said genuinely. "The least I can do is help you with serving the chicken today." 

"Really, you'd do that?" Percy asked excitedly, pulling Merlin over to stand next to him behind the food stand. "What about work at Coffee Prince today?" 

"I yelled at Arthur for not asking why you were quitting, and then I told him that I was going on personal leave to find you and ask myself," Merlin said with a shrug. "Boss better not threaten to fire me for that, too. By the way, Percy, I have a secret to share with you." 

"What?" he asked. 

"Freya loves these types of chicken legs," Merlin whispered. 

~ 

At dawn the next morning, Merlin was doing milk deliveries, when she received a call. She didn't respond, as she was still biking. However, when she stopped to rest, she checked it, seeing that it was a missed call and a left voice message from Lancelot. She had stopped by his house already, but neither he nor Knight had been out to greet her. 

_"Merlin, where are you?"_ he asked in the message. _"I see the milk carton, but I don't see you. Knight misses you. Actually... I think I miss you more."_

With her heart pounding, Merlin called him back as quickly as her fingers allowed her. 

"Lance!" she exclaimed. "I'm still doing deliveries, but I'll be over at yours as soon as I'm done. Okay?" 

_"Okay, Merlin,"_ he responded happily. _"I'll wait for you."_

Merlin peddled off immediately after ending the call, wanting to finish her deliveries as soon as possible. 

"He says he'll wait for me!" she shouted into the chilly morning air. "He'll wait for me; he'll wait!" 

When she finally arrived, Lance led her through into his home right away. She had never been inside before, and she didn't want to trespass his boundaries by exploring. He led her through to the kitchen, where he set down a plate with an enormous omelette in front of her. 

"You cooked me breakfast?" she asked him in awe. "You didn't have to." 

"I absolutely did have to," he assured her, settling down besides her. "At the opening of Coffee Prince, I saw you inhale food like a vacuum. I assumed that you must be hungry." 

"I seem to always be hungry," Merlin amended. "Thank you so much for cooking for me. This is absolutely delicious." 

After breakfast, Merlin went outside, prepared to explore Lance's backyard. It was quite beautiful, really. A house that came with so much land obviously cost at least a million pounds. Several decorations stood near the house as well. There were two stone horses, almost the size of real ones, that stood near the entrance to Lance's home. She had seen them while chatting with Lance outside of his property. However, now being so close to them, she couldn't help but climb on top of them, as if they were a carousel ride for the little girl that she still was. Surprisingly, Lance followed her onto the second one, looking over at her with a smile. 

"You're the only person to ever climb on top of one of these," he commented. "Most people just look at them." 

"Yeah, well, I'm weird like that," she responded. 

"Not weird in a bad way," he assured her kindly. "Just different. Unique." 

"Unique enough to be thought of us a man without being one in any sense of the word," she said bitterly. 

"Do you get tired of pretending?" he asked her. 

"No, not really," she confessed. "I don’t have to try really hard to convince everyone, since I'm so masculine, anyways. They interpreted me as a man without question, before I even said anything. What about you? What did you think, when you first noticed me?" 

"Well, I must confess that you referred to yourself as female, the first time I heard you speak to Knight," Lance admitted. "I didn't have time to make a judgement. However, I like to think that even without your first monologue, I would have made the correct assumption. No matter how I think about it now, you're only a woman to me." 

"On Valentine's Day in secondary school, I would only receive notes, chocolates, and gifts from girls," Merlin confessed. "I'm not entirely convinced that all of the teachers even knew my gender. It's all in my name, too." 

"Why are you named Merlin, if you don't mind me asking?" Lance wondered. 

"My mother, who was convinced that she would have a boy, was set on the name Merlin," she explained. "She didn't think of changing it, when the results came in." 

"Even though both your name and clothing are masculine, all I can see is a beautiful young woman," Lance said softly. "I can't imagine everyone else missing that." 

"Not that beautiful, really," Merlin muttered, waving his compliment off. She couldn't remember the last time someone had said something so kind. 

"Beautiful enough to come with me to a party for the opening of an art show," he assured her. It was a statement, but the question was obvious in his eyes. 

Merlin blinked. "What?" 

"I'm finding myself in need of a date," he told her. "Please come." 

"But... Is it a formal event?" she asked nervously. "I can't typically pull off feminine formal looks." 

"You're fine as you are now," he assured her. 

"You'll be embarrassed to have me there, if I arrive in a pair of dirty trousers and a loose t-shirt," she insisted. 

"You can come in whatever you want, Merlin," Lance said again, almost desperately. "Just please agree." 

"Fine," she said, hiding a smile behind her hand. "I'll go, and I'll do my best to pull off an evening look." 

As she was leaving however, Lance called out to her, "Even if you don't think that your looks are beautiful enough, believe me when I say that the most beautiful thing about you is the way you always make others feel wonderful!" 

To prevent him from seeing her unstoppable grin, she didn't look back at him. Instead, she jumped on her bike and sped away, trying to hear the spin of the wheels over the heart pounding in her ears. 

~ 

Merlin yawned, the hot steam from the public bath having almost lulled her to sleep. However, Percy's unexpected voice jerked her back to reality. 

"My Angel, I've made you chicken!" he exclaimed excitedly, just as she stepped out of the building behind Freya. Merlin didn't have the opportunity to hide: Percy's eyes were already fixed on her. 

"Merlin?" he asked in confusion, looking over at the sign of the building, which quite clearly read, 'Ladies' Bath'. "What were you doing in..." 

He trailed off, noticing her bra straps, which were sticking out from underneath her tank top. She hid them quickly, trying to think of at least a flimsy excuse, before Percy let loose all of hell. 

"Merlin, you're a woman?!" he finally exclaimed. "All this time, you've been lying to us? To me, Leon, Gwaine? To Boss? What would he do, if I told him?" 

"Please don't tell Arthur, Percy," Merlin asked, too annoyed by the revelation to beg for mercy. She glared at her mom and sister, who simply stood by and watched in amusement. 

"How could you let me kiss you?" Percy sputtered. "I thought you were a man, and I'm not gay! Now it feels, as if I've cheated on my Angel!" 

"Jesus Christ," Merlin muttered. "You haven't cheated on her. Just promise me that you won't tell Arthur, okay? He mistook me for a man, much like the rest of you did, and I didn't bother to correct him. Soon, it was too late. If I tell him now, he'll fire me, either for being a girl or for lying so extremely." 

"Tell me, why I shouldn't reveal you, huh?" Percy challenged. 

"Well, for one, Freya is my sister, not my girlfriend," Merlin pointed out. "You'd like to be on my good side, since she needs my approval, right?" 

"I don't care about that!" Freya protested. 

"If you tell on me, I'll kick your ass, if you take even one step in Freya's direction," Merlin continued. "Also, I'm not your competition any longer. That counts for something, right?" 

"Right," Percy muttered, appearing to consider it. 

"So, what do you say?" Merlin prodded. "Will you keep it a secret for now?" 

"For now," he reluctantly agreed. 

~ 

_"Are you okay, Gwen?"_ Arthur asked worriedly over the phone. _"Your voice sounds hoarse. Have you caught a cold?"_

"Yeah, but it's slight," Gwen lied, but it was no use. A second later, she erupted in a coughing fit. 

_"Yeah, okay, you know what?"_ Arthur asked. _"I'll be right over."_

When Arthur arrived, it was with giant thermoses of soup, various medicine, and packs of cough drops. Gwen sighed, which made her reach for another tissue. Arthur was a great friend, but she wished it were her knight in shining armour to comfort her today. 

"All of this is unnecessary, you know," she told him. "I have all of this at home." 

"Well, you didn't make it clear, so this will be for just in case," he told her, taking out bowls from her kitchen cupboards and placing them on the kitchen table, in front of where she lounged on the couch. He poured the soup out to her and prepared to spoon feed her, but she pushed his hand away with a laugh and sat up herself. 

"I don't really have an appetite, but I'm still capable of eating," she told him. 

"How did you manage to get so sick?" he asked her in a concerned tone. 

"Who knows?" she asked with a shrug. "I must have been out in that rain too much." 

"Why isn't Lance here instead of me?" Arthur asked suddenly. "He should be here to comfort his girlfriend. Did you have a fight?" 

"I don't know," she admitted, though the words sounded like a lie even to her ears. "From the way he hasn't tried to contact me in the past few days, it feels like we've had." 

_Gwen is interviewed by reporters from famous magazines centred around constantly. Often, the questions they ask her are personal, after she has spoken about the work itself. Sometimes, they are uncomfortable, but she tries to provide complete honesty in her answers._

_Once, she is asked whether she plans on settling down with a family instead of continuing to travel around the world. She cannot hide the truth: she does not plan on it. She loves to paint and to go through the different doors that her talent and hard work open up to her. She loves it more than she loves or can love any single person. She loves it more than Lancelot. Gwen loves him, but there are others like him in the world. Others, who will give up anything for her._

_She and Lance dine with her publicist and her husband. With genuine curiosity, they ask if Gwen and Lance are planning on getting married. Gwen wishes to postpone the conversation to avoid awkwardness and Lance's inevitable disappointment. However, he is the first one to speak up in response to their question._

_"Oh, definitely not," he says with a light smile. "Gwen will always prefer her work more than anything."_

_The implications of his words hang in the air. Gwen turns to the couple with a reassuring smile, but her disappointment is imminent. Lancelot must have read her interview._

_When Guinevere attends the interview the next week, it is to her dismay that her current work with Agravaine is mentioned. He is in the United States, and they are no longer involved. However, they do continue to work together. She is the afraid that Lancelot will know of this, too._

Gwen looked up at Arthur, smiling at his furrowed eyebrows. 

"When did you get so handsome, Arthur?" Gwen asked him jokingly. "The last I remember, you were merely a boy." 

"I think Lancelot should be taking care of you right now," Arthur said, obviously displeased at her words. "I'll call him and let him know that you're sick. He should be here, with you." 

Gwen sighed, knowing that it would be impossible to change Arthur's mind. She listened as he rang his brother, soothing him that Gwen was already from his end of the conversation. Arthur stayed with her until Lance arrived in a hurry. 

"Arthur told me that you weren't feeling well," he said softly, sitting besides her on the sofa. She pulled herself over, so that her head was lying in his lap. "You look even worse than he said." 

"That's not exactly a compliment," she complained, reaching for her glass of wine with a laugh. "You shouldn't insult a sick person. They'll become sad and cry, which simply overexerts them." 

"If you're so sick, why are you drinking wine?" he teased her. 

"To forget that you weren't there with me," she teased back, sticking her tongue out at him. 

"Why didn't you call me over earlier?" he asked her seriously. 

"Why didn't you call me these past few days?" she retorted. "I even did myself, but you didn't pick up." 

"I'm sorry," he told her sincerely. "I admit, it was difficult for me to see you, to talk to you, to even _think_ of you, knowing that you love your work more than me." 

"I'm sorry-" she began, but Lance stopped her with a raised hand. 

"Gwen, you know I'll come to terms with it," he told her calmly. "I love you, and I want to be with you for as long as you want me. Whether or not that's forever doesn't matter to me at the moment." 

"Oh, Lance," she sighed, sitting up and throwing his arms around his neck. "I love you, you know." 

"I know you do," he whispered. "I love you, too." 

"It hurt me to hear you admit the plain truth in front of other people," she admitted softly. "Who knows, maybe my plans will change in the future." 

"I can only hope that they will," he responded, continuing to hold her tightly. 

~ 

After leaving Gwen's home, it truly wasn't Arthur's intention to miraculously run into the vendor, at which Percy was working. After a second glance, he could see that Merlin was standing next to him, cooking, too. 

"Boss!" Percy called out, noticing him. "Would you like to buy some chicken legs? Fried eggs? Barbecue meat?" 

"No, thank you, Percival, _Mer_ lin," he said, approaching them. "However, I do have important questions and important matters to settle. Merlin was right: it was completely inconsiderate to ask you about the reason for quitting. I can see that you're working here at the moment. Is this a permanent job, Percy, or will you be returning to Coffee Prince soon?" 

"I don’t want to quit forever, Boss, if that’s possible," Percy amended. "This is only temporary. A friend of mine-" 

However, he was interrupted by a customer, who approached the vendor gingerly. 

"May I order an omelette, please?" he asked, tossing a few pounds at Merlin, who looked at Percy in alarm. 

"We haven't made omelettes before," Merlin said to Percy. "I can only fry eggs. You can make an omelette can't you?" 

"It's been awhile since I've made one," Percy said, shrugging his shoulders apologetically. "This isn't my own vendor: it's not my fault that I can't prepare all of the courses on the menu." 

"Oh, for Christ's sake," Arthur muttered, pushing Merlin aside to make room for him behind the counter. He rolled up his sleeves and began to slice some tomatoes. "Merlin, how do you get by without knowing how to make an omelette? By not eating? But no, that's impossible, since I've seen you devour plate after plate before. Still, an omelette is one of the simplest meals. I thought you were the breadwinner of the family." 

"I am, but that doesn't mean my sister can't help repay me by feeding me," Merlin muttered. 

"Yes, my Angel is very kind to those around her, including her brother," Percy said proudly. 

"You finally confessed that his 'Angel' isn’t your girlfriend?" Arthur asked in amusement. "Freya, is it?" 

"Yes, it is," Merlin responded warily. "And Percy simply happened to find out." 

"You'd actually never even mentioned the situation to me before, Merlin," Arthur commented. "Maybe I had been assuming that you had a girlfriend the whole time." 

"Why would that matter to you?" Merlin challenged. "You're simply my boss." 

"Speaking of being your boss, are you also planning on returning to work in the near future, Merlin?" Arthur asked, flipping the eggs on the frying pan in front of him. "Or will you continue to make lacking meals at vendors forever, leaving it up to me to drag you back to Coffee Prince?" 

"I'm flattered that you miss me," Merlin retorted. "I was only there less than twenty four hours ago. Nevertheless, I'll be back soon enough, like Percy.” 

Arthur took over the cooking for the next few orders, with Merlin and Percy helping out. Soon enough, it was sunset, with the night quickly approaching. It was while he was accepting money and handing a plate in return, that the large dog of the customer in front of him broke its leash free from a man's grip, running out into the street. With a gasp, Merlin ran after it. The dog was safely on the pavement on the other side, but Merlin was not. As soon as Arthur saw the lights of a vehicle steadily approaching, he ran out as quickly as his feet would allow him. He rushed towards Merlin and knocked him to the ground, out of harm's way. Thankfully, the car, which seemed to have no intention of stopping for pedestrians, sped past without hurting either of them. Unfortunately for Arthur, however, he was currently lying on top of Merlin, which resulted in being nudged by incredibly bony elbows. 

"Arthur, get off me," Merlin gritted out, trying to push the former off. 

"What, you're not going to thank me for saving your life?" Arthur teased. He looked down, causing their eyes to meet. 

"Thank you, Arthur, but you're crushing me!" Merlin wheezed, giving another desperate attempt. Arthur sat up immediately, wiping his scraped and bloody hands gently on his jeans. 

"Are you saying I'm fat?" he asked Merlin patronisingly. 

"No, I'm not, Arthur," Merlin responded in obvious irritation, sitting up as well. "However, there's no denying that you’re much heavier than me." 

Arthur looked over at Merlin, preparing to spit out his next retort in his face. However, he stopped in alarm, noticing in shock the streak of blood that was descending down the side of Merlin’s face. He wiped at it gently with his sleeve, caring more about Merlin's slight gasp than he ever could about his slightly bloodied shirt. 

"Do you feel concussed?" Arthur asked him urgently. 

"I don't, Arthur," Merlin assured him, reaching to touch the side of his forehead. "It's honestly just a scrape. Don't worry about it: worry about your hands. They have blood, too." 

"I think you should go to the hospital, Merlin," Arthur said, gently pulling him to his feet. "You obviously might be severely hurt." 

"What?" Merlin asked in alarm, his eyes darting around wildly. "No! Do I seem concussed to you, Arthur?" 

He bounced up and down energetically without any negative physical effects, which didn’t make Arthur feel any less concerned. 

"At least stay over tonight," Arthur begged. "I have a first aid kit, and you won't have to ride your bike to return all the way home." 

"Ugh, fine," Merlin groaned, nevertheless going to load his bike in the back seat of Arthur's car. The trunk simply wasn't big enough for Merlin's bulky, childish bicycle. 

Once in his flat's bathroom, they took turns treating their wounds. Merlin bandaged Arthur's hands first, who then dabbed at her face in return. 

"This reminds me of something that happened in my childhood," Merlin told him. "When I was about eight years old, I was playing around on the balcony on our flat on the third floor, when I fell over the railing." 

"And that's when you hit your head and became so insane, Merlin?" Arthur asked, trying not to laugh or interrupt the wound tending. 

"No, I didn't, because my father caught me," Merlin continued. "He fell and broke his arm from the impact, but he didn't even notice. He ran to the nearby hospital, so worried about me, when I was better off than him. That's what I thought of today, when you flew in to rescue me. You scraped your hands more than I did my forehead. You were cool today, Arthur. For being so caring, you were cool." 

Arthur recognised his own words being thrown back at him, the words that he had told her the other day after the sparring match. However, he didn't comment, instead leading Merlin to the guest room and unfolding the bedsheets. 

"Why do you continuously step in to help people?" Arthur asked him. "First, you find Leon a place to stay. Next, you help Percy take care of his friend’s vendor. Neither one of those are your responsibility. They didn't ask for your help, either." 

"It's called loyalty," Merlin boasted. "I feel a sense of loyalty to them, my close acquaintances. I feel loyalty to many of my fellow humans, as well, even if we're not friends. Don't you have that feeling, where you simply can't leave someone in need, if you know how to help?" 

"No," Arthur responded truthfully, although guilt began to course through him. 

"You must have, today," Merlin argued. "Why else would you have saved me? It's not like you love me enough to throw yourself in front of a car on my behalf." 

Arthur chuckled dryly, shaking his head. "Sleep, Merlin," he commanded, gently pushing the lighter man in the direction of the bed. "I'll see you in the morning." 

~ 

The lack of customers over the next few days was completely startling for everyone, but it didn't stop Merlin, Percy, Leon, and Gwaine from begging for some kind of employee retreat. Arthur was reluctant at first. However, since the number of customers literally flowed from zero to two, maximum, per day, there was no point in staying at Coffee Prince all day and doing nothing. Gaius offered to stay behind for the day that they would all be gone. He also pointed Arthur in the Lavenham Brook Vineyard and Orchard in Sudbury, where he promised to get him a deal on D’Arcy Spice apples. 

Leaving in the morning in Gwaine’s open Jeep, the five of them took a three-hour road trip to Sudbury. They arrived at the orchard, where they had planned to pick and buy some D’Arcy Spice apples to munch on for the rest of their day. However, at its, they were intercepted by the couple who owned it and worked there. 

"Did you receive any notice from a Gaius Wilson?" Arthur asked them. "If not, we can just pay any price, after gathering our apples." 

"Oh, Gaius _did_ say that you'd talk your way out of it!" the woman exclaimed, grabbing her partner's arm in excitement. 

"Out of what?" Arthur asked in confusion. He could see the same expression on the faces of the rest of the men. 

"Out of helping us harvest," the man explained. "You can buy your own apples, too, but you're going to help pick and sell them, first. It's kind of hard to get people to come pick themselves, and we can get better deals, if we just sell them by the road. The numbers of workers are dwindling: today is a perfect day for volunteering!" 

There was a moment of silence, in which all four of them stood still, not knowing what to say. Eventually, Arthur shook his head in disbelief, not understanding how easily Gaius could trick the five of them, including Arthur himself. 

"I don't know if I can agree to that," Arthur said. "We did take this day to take a break from work. A vacation day, of sorts." 

"Oh, come on, Arthur!" Merlin exclaimed. "It's not like we've been doing much work there recently, anyways. Besides, volunteering is great! It's both fun and rewarding." 

"I agree with Merlin," Leon commented. "This won't be tedious cleaning. This will be something new. Our work will actually be needed, as opposed to at Coffee Prince." 

Quite truthfully, Arthur had been relieved to have a day off of work, too. After spending the majority of his life without any hard work, Coffee Prince was a break with its own plus and minuses from his typical lifestyle. He had been waiting for some relaxation. Still, the looks on their faces held such hope, that Arthur would feel terrible to crash. Especially Merlin's, whose big eyes made Arthur automatically make up his decision. 

"Fine," he agreed unhappily. "We'll help out." 

"Hurray!" Merlin exclaimed, pulling him, Percy, Leon, and Gwaine into a bear hug. All of them groaned in annoyance at the younger man’s endless energy. 

For the next several hours, all five of them buried themselves in work harder than they had at Coffee Prince. As Arthur had expected him to, Merlin took firsthand responsibility of climbing up ladders and reaching for the highest apples. Percy helped him out by shaking the apples off of some of the thinner trees. Leon took some promotional photos for the selling stand. Gwaine used his artistic mind to carve faces into some of the apples, as if they were pumpkins, instead. 

Arthur helped pick apples, too, until there were enough D’Arcy Spice, Worcester Pearmain, Laxton’s Fortune, and Ribston Pippin apples to sell at the roadside stand for the day. When the woman sent him off to sell them, however, he was forced to accept the constant difficulties of the sales business. 

Simply sitting by roadside stand, even with several signs pinned around him, didn't help Arthur stop any cars or attract any customers. After about half an hour, he decided to be more effective with his energy. Instead of simply sitting, he walked around the side of the road and gesticulated towards himself with each approaching car. He felt completely ridiculous at first, but he was determined to put as much hard work as he could into his current responsibility. Arthur danced and skipped around, gesturing wildly towards the roadside stand. To attract even the first customer, he needed to personally run up to the stopping car, naming the variety of the apples and the different prices per kilogram. It immediately made him sympathise with his Coffee Prince workers - especially Merlin. Arthur knew that Merlin was the one, who put in this type of effort into everything he did daily. 

It was only after the first successful customer that Arthur had been forced to consider the price of the different varieties of apples per kilogram. As excited as he was about selling them, he completely disregarded the fact that he had extremely minimal experience with direct selling. He sold a kilogram of all of the apples for three and a half pounds. The fact that everyone had been so willing to buy them only made Arthur happy, not suspicious. Only when he sold all of the apples and returned to the orchard with the cash register, did the mistake become known to him. 

"You're done so quickly?" the male orchard owner asked, as the rest of them crowded around him. "It usually takes us six hours to get rid of twelve kilograms, not two." 

"Maybe I just have a certain charm," Arthur boasted, catching Merlin's eye roll. 

"This isn't adding up to anywhere _near_ enough," the man said with a frown, counting the bills under his nose. "Arthur, for how much do you sell a kilogram?!" 

"Uh, three and a half pounds," Arthur replied quietly, suddenly feeling his heart pounding in his throat. Blood spread to his face in embarrassment. It was terribly frightening to entertain the idea that he had just sold all of those enormous bags a lot less than he had to and gained them almost no profit. 

"They're not all three and a half pounds per kilogram!" the man shrieked. Arthur rubbed his hands over his face, hanging his head. It felt as low as his heart. God, he had completely messed up. "The Laxton’s Fortune are three and a half; the D’Arcy Spice are four; the Worcester Pearmain are four and a half; and the Ribston Pippin are five pounds per kilogram! Geena, you didn't make that clear to him?" 

The woman, Geena, was standing besides the man, looking at Arthur in shock and guilt. When her husband said her name, she twitched, rubbing her hands across her forehead. 

"Don't blame Arthur: it was my fault," she confessed with a sigh. "I didn't clarify the price for him before sending him off. Don't beat yourself up about it, either, Arthur. We still made profit from this, I promise you." 

"I have to make it up to you somehow," Arthur insisted. "I'm too bloody angry at myself for this mistake.” 

"Just pick apples for the next few hours," the man said, shrugging, "which _we_ will sell later." 

When the couple left the five of them to apple picking, Merlin scoffed at him loudly. 

"What?" Arthur barked under his breath. "Like you wouldn't do something even more idiotic." 

"You, our great leader, was the one without absolutely any clue about the different values of apple varieties," Merlin teased, climbing up a ladder to a particularly tall apple tree. Suddenly, he turned towards towards Arthur with a serious expression. "You know that I'm only kidding, right, Arthur? It's okay to make mistakes." 

"Are you really wise, Merlin, or just a prattling fool?" Arthur snorted, crossing his arms. "I can no longer tell." 

Merlin began laughing hysterically, snorting up air into his nose every other giggle. Arthur watched him in amusement, trying to hold back some chuckles, too, until he noticed Merlin's hands. They were slipping off of the ladder, and Merlin was too occupied to notice. 

"Merlin!" he yelled, just in time. Merlin's fingers let go of the ladder entirely. Arthur ran up underneath it, holding out his hands, as Merlin toppled backwards several feet. His laugh transformed into a shocked yell. It was cut off, when Merlin landed into Arthur's arms. 

"Jesus, Merlin could you possibly be even more accident-prone?" Arthur reprimanded him. He set Merlin gently on the ground, forcing himself to control his protectiveness and let go of the man. "Are you alright?" 

"I'm... fine," Merlin said slowly, sounding slightly dazed from the fall. "I never knew that you had it in you to catch a fallen pr-prince." 

"Do you finally believe that I'm good for something?" Arthur teased. Merlin only nodded. 

After several more hours of apple picking, the Arthur and the Princes met up with Gaius at a nearby lake to cool off. Gaius had heard about the apple price fiasco from the couple, but he didn't seem angry at Arthur for fucking up. Nevertheless, the latter felt compelled to apologise. 

"I'm sorry, Gaius," Arthur told him sincerely, as Gaius basked in the sun on a tall rock. He was wearing a lighter set of robes, for once. Merlin, Percy, Leon, and Gwaine were splashing around in the water in their clothes, squealing like a group of young girls. "I know that you entrusted us with the apple picking responsibility, but I completely blew my part." 

Gaius raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you hear that, gentlemen?" he called down to them. "The Boss says he's sorry! He's actually apologising to us!" 

As soon as Arthur turned away to look below them, he felt Gaius' hand on his shoulder, shoving him into the deep water below. Arthur fell with an endless shout, plummeting into the lake in his v-neck and shorts. As soon as he surfaced, the Princes surrounded him, keeping him from swimming to the edge of the lake. They stayed in for what felt like many hours, enjoying the cool breeze on a hot day and having endless fun. 

~ 

By the time they had all been completely soaked in the water, Merlin was several thousand percent annoyed at Percy. It seemed as if he had taken the responsibility of hiding every single perverted thing from her. At any slightly dirty joke from Leon or removed article of clothing from Gwaine, Percy would make excuses and divert their attention to something else. At first, she simply rolled her eyes. Until it got too serious, of course, and she had to start making jokes herself, to get the point through to Percy. Whether his intention was to take mercy on her or prove himself to be a good potential guy for Freya, it was completely unnecessary. She probably had more dirty jokes in her than the four of the men combined. 

While swimming in the lake, Merlin spent some time talking to Leon. She wanted to know the other two Princes as well as knew Percy, more or less. They talked about his interest in interior design and about his early friendship with Arthur. Somehow, the conversation gradually progressed to centre around Arthur, as well as his current romantic interest. 

"What's their deal?" Merlin asked, not letting on that she was familiar with Guinevere and the story behind their relationship. She just wanted to hear someone else's point of view. 

"I don't want to get into the details, but Arthur's been in love with her for nine years," Leon confessed seriously. "It's not just a simple crush. It's a deep, one-sided romance." 

Illogically, Merlin's heart sunk in her chest. She couldn't classify her feelings for Arthur completely, but the idea of him being so dedicated to someone else, so much that nothing could ever happen between him and Merlin, made her extremely disconcerted. 

By the time they had finished swimming, the sun was already setting. Gaius, Arthur, and the Princes decided to stay in Sudbury at the couple's cottage for the night. It was very primitive, but Merlin didn't mind. When the noise quieted down around the cottage, Merlin sneaked outside to go to the bathroom. However, it was when she was returning into the main house that she ran into Arthur. He was lying on the long porch in front of the door. 

"Are you heading in, Merlin?" he asked, not turning completely in her direction. 

"Maybe not yet," Merlin responded, moving to lie down next to Arthur. 

"You want to observe the stars with me, Merlin?" Arthur asked, turning to smirk at her. 

"I would appreciate you talking to me without transforming my name condescending joke," Merlin said, nudging him with her arm. "But yes, I would like to the look at the stars." 

They were simply beautiful tonight, and so bright. The stars were quite visible in the less polluted village that Sudbury was. 

"Don't you just love the stars from a viewpoint like this?" Merlin sighed. "You can stare and marvel at them endlessly. Can you imagine each star being a piece of food? There would so much of it. Especially, if the food is just as big to the stars’ real size!” 

"Everything is about food for you," Arthur said through a chuckle. "Why am I not surprised? Either way, what about the moon? What would you say about eating it, alongside the stars?" 

"The moon is the best to cook when it's full," Merlin explained. "I'll wait until it fills out. Then, I'll steam it and eat it." 

"What will it taste like?" Arthur asked, sounding honestly amused. 

"I expect that it'll taste something like a quesadilla," Merlin mused. "You know, the cheese and flat bread qualities combined." 

"You're impossible," Arthur murmured. They lied together in silence for a little bit after that, enjoying the music that nature created after sunset. Suddenly, Merlin felt Arthur press something against her arm. She took it into her hands, feeling a small, lego robot made out of a collection of smaller pieces. 

"This is for me?" she asked in amusement, pressing it into her chest and curling farther into herself. 

"Yes, for your hard work today," Arthur muttered. “I made it.” 

"Even if you didn't think to give it to me until now, thank you for the thought," Merlin said earnestly. "You worked hard today, too, Arthur. Selling can be difficult, can't it?" 

"It can be, yes," Arthur consented. 

"See?" Merlin insisted. "Next time that someone else at Coffee Prince has trouble, don't scold them so much. You just had a personal experience with the difficulty of such a job." 

"I'm glad to know now," Arthur confessed. After a pause, he asked, "Merlin, what is your dream?" 

"As in, life-long dream?" Merlin asked warily. 

"Yes," Arthur confirmed. 

"I try to steer clear of unattainable dreams, as they only give false hope," Merlin confessed with a sigh. "However, I do have certain goals, which seem slightly unrealistic. I just want to live happily, easily, and well-off with my mother and sister, without any of our current financial difficulties. At least, that's something I’ve been praying for all my life. Also, I don't know about any specific dreams at the moment, but right now, I just want to become someone, who makes great coffee." 

"A good barista?" 

"Yes, a barista," Merlin replied. "What about you? What are your dreams?" 

"My dream is to see only what I want to see, and to live joyfully and happily as a result," Arthur said airily. She knew that that was the simple answer. It didn't take much thought. However, Merlin didn't comment. 

"I don't know if that would make you happy, but it makes sense to wish for that," Merlin replied. Then, hesitantly: "Arthur, what about your 'habit'? How is it going? Does she have any tie into your dreams?" 

"Not really," Arthur said quietly. "The habit of seeing her and loving her doesn't bring me particular happiness." 

"Then why do you love her?" Merlin asked in astonishment. "If you don't love being with her, how can there be even one reason for being so attached?" 

"There might be a million reason, and you wouldn't know them," Arthur snapped back. "But seriously, there aren't one million reasons. There isn't even one. I simply love her. Even when I try not to, I just do. I can't do anything about it." 

"That's a scary thought for me," Merlin said softly. "To be so powerless over something. I don't ever want to be in that situation." 

Merlin continued to mull over Arthur's words, trying to make sense of the nature of inevitable 'habits' and not being able to do anything about them. Even the next day, as she let Freya and Hunith pepper Merlin up for her date with Lancelot, she continued to think of Arthur, even sharing some of her thoughts about him with her family. 

It was only when she could see the final results of their makeover in the mirror that all thoughts of Arthur vanished from her mind. The nerves of going to a formal event like this kicked in. Lance had tried to convince Merlin to wear her usual clothing, but there was no way that the guests of an art show were not going to be in at least semiformal attire. She had told her mom and sister to do whatever they wanted to make her look feminine and formal, but that had obviously been a mistake. Merlin was pretty sure that she would look like a disaster to everyone else, as well. 

There was makeup in the most unnecessary places on her face. The shade of lipstick matched the rose red polkadots on her short black dress. Her hair stuck out more than normal, as it had been partially straightened and transformed into a half-wavy mess. She didn't look attractive in the least. Because she didn't have ways of fixing it, she just let it sit. At least she was wearing female clothing. 

When she arrived at his home a few hours later, she could tell that he agreed with her own assessment. It wasn’t the best thing that she could be in. 

"I look like a male hooker in a cross dressing outfit, don't I?" she asked him, pulling at the back of her panties to adjust them. Jesus, who wore this shit on a daily basis? 

"I wouldn't say it in those words, exactly," Lance said kindly. "However, there are millions of things that would fit you much better. Possibly the dress and wig that I bought you, for example.” 

"You bought me an outfit?" Merlin asked, aghast. "But you said to come in my street clothing!" 

"Yes, so that you could change into something formal, without having the displeasure of struggling on your own," Lance explained. "I thought you would prefer to not have to deal with these types of things.” 

"You're right, of course," Merlin agreed. "Well, what do you have?" 

When Lance sent her up to the bedroom upstairs, to pick up the present that awaited her, she knew that there was no way to say thank you. The wig was a reflection of her own black, curly hair, but it descended down to the small of her back in graceful curls. The heels were black and at least nine centimetres, with an uplifted toe pad. The dress itself was a greyish sky blue - the colour of her eyes. It was a strapless fishtail, which had always been Merlin's favourite type of dress, if only from a distance. It revealed her bony shoulders, but her temporarily beautiful hair hid them. Even better, all of the clothes fit her perfectly, as if Lance had looked at her enough to memorise the shape of her body. 

"This is so amazing," she called to Lance, as she descended down the stairs slowly. When he came into her view, her whole chest was filled with giddiness. The look on her face told her that he wholeheartedly agreed. He was staring at her in shock. Almost gaping, even. Their gazes locked, which prevented Merlin from looking down at her feet. She set her heeled foot down, missed the step entirely, an plummeted face first down the staircase with a screech. 

Just as she thought that it was the end, she felt strong arms sweep her up into a bridal style hold. Looking into her eyes, which were now so close to his, Lance set her gently on the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Lavenham Brook Vineyard and Orchard](http://www.lavenhambrook.co.uk/) is actually a real orchard in Sudbury, United Kingdom. The varieties of apples that Arthur sold can all be found there. I also basically just looked at [this site](www.orangepippintrees.co.uk) for the relative prices of the apples that I mentioned.
> 
> This work is currently unbeta-ed. I don't have a beta at the moment, so if you're interested in beta-ing this fic for me or doing a beta-ing exchange, please let me know.


	6. Cup 6

When Lance and Merlin arrived at the gallery opening, she realised how out of place she was. Even before she stepped in to see something of an high elite dinner party, she knew she was going to feel awkward. However, being here in the flesh made her feel like a fraud, pretending to be a person she wasn't. 

When she saw Guinevere across the room, heading towards them, Merlin was glad to be wearing a wig. It hid most of the things in her face that would give her away. Still, not wanting to be found out, she ducked behind Lance, turning away from her. 

"Merlin, what are you doing?" he asked in concern, looking over his shoulder at her. 

"I'm just gonna go to the bathroom, okay?" she lied, not turning around. She slinked off in the direction of the restroom sign, but she stopped behind the nearest wall. She hid herself behind it, where Lance couldn't see her, turning to watch as Gwen approached him. They hugged warmly, causing a twinge of jealousy to blossom in Merlin's gut. However, it was only after a chaste kiss that she realised with dismay, who Girl B was. 

Merlin huffed, blowing hair out of her face, even though her natural bangs weren’t currently falling into her eyes. Girl B was supposed to be ugly. However, she wasn't, as Girl B was the perfect Guinevere herself. It explained the reason behind why Arthur could never be with Guinevere: she was dating his brother. At the same time, seeing her now confused Merlin. What could have happened to create such a love triangle? And now, here Merlin was, stuck on the side of their already fully developed drama like an awkward trapezoidal angle. 

Lance and Gwen walked around the room, hand in hand, looking at various paintings. They were the most beautiful and well-matched couple, Merlin thought bitterly. Wherever they went, groups of dignified-looking people would approach Gwen, asking questions and scribbling down her answers. It was her gallery of artwork, Merlin realised. It explained the reason why Lance couldn’t bring Gwen as a date. 

Merlin could see Gwen pulling away, probably to go continue hosting her own gallery show. However, she stopped as Arthur approached them. Merlin watched the three of them talk for a while, before doing a double take: it was Arthur. Arthur was here, and Arthur knew her much better than Guinevere did. There was literally no way she would risk going up and talking to Lance now. She might as well leave. 

Suddenly, Arthur turned his face in Merlin’s direction. She scurried behind the wall in surprise, almost tripping over her shoes and dress in her hurry. Quickly, she looked for an exit route that wouldn't put her in their direct line of sight. Eventually, she decided on staying against the opposite side of the gallery, where she would mostly hidden by the exhibits lined up in the centre of the room. She ran across towards the exit as fast as her heels would let her, which transformed into a clumsy trot. It also attracted many weird looks. High heels were seriously not good for anything. Why did people wear them? 

Just as she was making a final run for the exit, Arthur’s stance shifted, putting him in a position that would allow him to see her face, if she passed anywhere near him. Merlin backtracked, stumbling behind a large painting on a stand. The clank of her heels was heard by the three of them, causing them to turn and look at her. She caught two identical looks of confusion on the faces of Arthur and Gwen, before Merlin had the chance to look away. Unfortunately, Lance had spotted her. Merlin could hear his footsteps approaching her from behind. 

"What are you doing, hiding?" Lance asked softly in obvious amusement. 

"Why do you think I am?" she asked angrily. "They'll recognise me! They'll know I'm a girl!" 

"They won't recognise you," he assured her, taking her wrist and pulling her gently, nevertheless making her follow him by force. "You look too different for that." 

"No, Lance!" Merlin hissed, trying to pull from his grasp. He only chuckled, as if this was completely hysterical for him. She forced herself to stop struggling, as it was too embarrassing to cause a scene by breaking - or trying to - his hold on her arm. She covered the majority of her face with her wig, but that didn't stop her building panic attack. At least she knew, even if only theoretically, that they most likely wouldn’t recognise her. Most likely. 

"Who's this?" Gwen asked, as they approached. Even though it was minimal, Merlin could detect the bit of jealousy in her tone of voice. It was almost worth it to look up and see the expression on her face. 

"My new girlfriend, of course," Lance said with a chuckle. Merlin couldn't help it: she lifted her head briefly, only to catch a true look of bafflement on Gwen's face. Arthur was too busy watching Gwen in mesmerisation, as he always seemed to do, to notice Merlin's face. Even after a glance in her direction, Arthur didn't look back at her again. She knew she needed to be grateful for it, but illogically, Merlin felt disdain flooding her for her another reason entirely. After working with Arthur for awhile, her face wasn't important enough to him to be recognisable. 

"Oh really?" Gwen asked in feigned disinterest. "I'm almost jealous." 

"That was the point!" Lance exclaimed. "But really, this is just my young friend." 

Young friend? Merlin turned her face even farther away, scoffing to herself. That's what she would always be to Lance. She always knew it, but she now would be able to stop lying to herself. 

She pulled Lance aside violently, just enough for him to forgo his protests. She couldn't have a conversation with him in front of Arthur and Gwen. 

"Lance, I'm gonna go," she told him seriously. She turned away from him, but he held her back. 

"But wait, Merlin, why?" he asked in genuine disappointment. 

"I'm completely out of place here, as we both knew I would be," she gritted out. "Especially since this is _Guinevere_ 's gallery show! She knows me as Merlin Emrys, Arthur's fucking pageboy. _And_ Arthur is here. If he actually looks for more than a nanosecond, I'm dead." 

"I didn't know that Arthur was going to be here, I promise," Lance assured her. "Earlier, he said he wouldn't come. His arrival was a surprise. And I didn't know that you knew Gwen directly. But you're right. I should have taken more care to keep you out of their sight." 

"You put me in an extremely awkward and unimaginably stressful situation by pulling me over to them," she muttered. 

"I'm sorry, Merlin,” Lance said guiltily. “I wasn't thinking about you.” 

"It's fine," she said quietly, even though it was anything but. "I'd still like to go home, though. I'm sorry, Lance." 

"Let me at least take you home to make up for it," Lance insisted. 

"No, that's no good," Merlin insisted. "Gwen needs you here to support her." 

"Then accept this money for a cab ride," he begged, digging in his pocket and thrusting a note into her hand. He backed away with a smile on his face, when she tried to return the money immediately. "You don't owe me anything, I promise. Will you be fine getting home?" 

"I'm not ten, you know," she said half-heartedly, turning to leave. She didn't wait for Lance's response. She made her way to the nearest bus stop. She hated taking cabs; she would find a way to return his money to him. 

After waiting for her bus for more than twenty minute, Merlin was able to focus on the acute pain in her feet. She took off the heels, which would now be pointless to wear. Luckily, or maybe extremely unfortunately, there was a large rubbish bin to the right of the bus stop. A big bag of clothing sat atop it, too big to be fit into the bin. Merlin spotted a pair of slippers picking out from underneath the edge. Disgusting things weren't an enemy to Merlin, as wasn't a lack of dignity. Besides, her feet were cold. She grabbed the slippers, which weren't that dirty or that large, and slipped them over her small feet. 

Sitting on the bus ride home, she tucked her feet underneath her and lowered her head to her knees. Feeling unusually long hair fall into her face, she pulled the wig off and held it in her hands. As she stared at it, the definition of each fine hair became more and more blurry. Merlin couldn't stop the sudden onrush of tears. 

_Guy A, Girl B,_ she thought to herself in dismay. _There's no room for me, not even in my dreams._

~ 

Arthur lied on his couch, unable to get over the acrid feeling in his gut. After nine years of pining, it was time to get used to seeing Lance and Gwen happily in love. However, it was hard to get rid of that one spot in the back of his mind, which still spouted rubbish about extremely unlikely yet still possible possibilities. 

After moping around the house for half an hour more, Arthur couldn't handle the overbearing loneliness and judgemental silence of his flat. Not knowing what else to do, he rang Merlin. 

_"It's the Pain in My Arse calling!"_ Merlin said cheerfully over the phone. 

"Excuse me?" Arthur retorted. 

_"That became the name of your mobile contact long, long ago,"_ Merlin boasted. 

"Merlin, you!" Arthur threatened, following up with a collection of curses. 

_"Arthur, you're also my favourite, you know,"_ Merlin sniggered. _"Anyways, do you need anything?"_

"I meant to invite you over to a manly slumber party," Arthur said unexpectedly, without prior thinking. He had come up with the idea on the spot. 

_"Extremely manly, is it?"_ Merlin teased. 

"Shut up, _Mer_ lin," Arthur instructed. It was natural to say that to Merlin by now. "There’ll be free food. You can't miss out on that, can you, now?" 

_I'll be over in ten!"_ Merlin squeaked, hanging up right away. 

As soon as the transmission was cut, Arthur made a call to an Italian pizzeria. When Merlin arrived, Arthur was already waiting for him on his upstairs porch with two large boxes. With barely even a greeting Arthur's way, Merlin settled into eating, as if he hadn't been fed for weeks. He devoured half of one pizza, before Arthur was even on his third slice. Afterwards, Merlin began taking two pieces at a time, folding them together, and shoving the pizza sandwich into his mouth. 

"You are extremely disgusting," Arthur said casually, opening the second box for Merlin. 

"Thanks," Merlin said around his huge mouthful of pizza, immediately onto making sandwiches out of the opened box of Hawaiian. 

After all traces of both pizzas completely disappeared, Arthur continued to watch Merlin. Merlin, in turn, watched _Arthur_ , licking and sucking on his fingers enthusiastically. It aroused an extremely unsettling feeling within him, despite and because of which Arthur simply could not look away. 

"So," Merlin commented through loud slurps, "what else can we do during the slumber party?" 

"Oh, yes!" Arthur exclaimed, snapping his fingers. " _After_ you wash your hands, I have a challenge for you." 

"What kind of challenge?" Merlin asked, wiping his hands on his jeans, to Arthur's horror. 

"It is a test of your sense of smell," he said, shooing him into the bathroom. While she Merlin was washing his hands, Arthur retrieved the prepared coffee beans from the kitchen. "You have to sniff out of particular type of coffee beans in my hand. If you succeed, then I'll show you the mysterious secret room in the back of my flat." 

"Are you serious?" Merlin said excitedly, reaching for Arthur's fist. He pulled it upwards, out of his reach. "How do you know I can do that?" 

"Gaius told me that you've been taking time out of your evenings to study different types of coffees, along with other things that a barista needs to know how to do," Arthur informed him. "But really, can you?" 

He lifted his fist towards Merlin nose, staying wary of the latter's wandering and grabby hands. After a few moments of experimental sniffling, Merlin's eyes brightened and widened comically. 

"Hawaiian Kona?" he asked eagerly. 

"Wow, that's impressive," Arthur whistled, opening his palm to reveal the beans. It was the correct answer. 

"You gave me an easy one," Merlin said, shrugging. He walked in the direction of the promised secret reveal. "Come on, you promised to show me." 

"I _will_ show you," Arthur promised. He outran Merlin, reaching the door handle to the room before him. "Are you ready for this?" 

"Obviously!" Merlin said in irritation. 

"You have to promise not to laugh," he said quietly. He didn't take to showing new friends his quirky interests. He wanted to share with Merlin. After knowing him for several weeks, Arthur could safely say that Merlin seemed like the type of person, who would be interested in his lego collection. However, Arthur was still inevitably nervous. 

"What do you have, a teddy bear collection?" Merlin teased. 

"Close," Arthur said, opening his door to his room of legos. His toy room, one would say. However, Arthur himself thought of it as a room of creativity. 

"Holy crap," Merlin said awe. "What's the story behind this room?" 

"This is like a playroom, I guess," Arthur said awkwardly, approaching his current project. "I used to work with lego sculptures and toys in the United States. It's a weird trade, I guess, but I love it. With toys, I can create worlds. I can do anything. More importantly, do something useful, like create a life." 

"You can still do that in real life, too, Arthur," Merlin said seriously, putting an arm on his shoulder. The moment quickly ended after the honk of a car outside, and the younger man quickly squatted down by Arthur's project to inspect it. 

"It's a representation of a single vassal's land in feudal England," Arthur explained. "Medieval Camelot, specifically. Perhaps I will recreate the mansion into a palace, in which King Arthur will live." 

Arthur had already built most of the architectural structures from lego pieces of the largest variety of sizes possible. He was currently working on the vegetation, like the deep woods surrounding it. He knelt besides Merlin, resuming his current construction of a pine tree. Merlin watched in patient silence for awhile, before running off to gather scattered pieces from around the room. Where there were no platforms of constructions on the floor, there were scattered pieces. They were barely organised, but Merlin was able to dig out some relatively useful pieces for Arthur, anyways. Arthur even let him help build some of roads, too. After all, the project was only for fun. 

They worked together for several hours, providing each other company. While it was often filled with silence and concentration, their interesting conversations were almost as common. At one point, Merlin even pulled over a bulldozer, setting it right in the middle of a pathway in the centre of the peasant town. 

"A bulldozer has no place in my medieval kingdom, _Mer_ lin," Arthur admonished him. 

"You're so full of yourself, honestly," Merlin bit back, tossing the truck at his head. "It isn't _your_ kingdom." 

"Yes it is!" Arthur protested. "I built it!" 

"You're a silly guy, Arthur," Merlin said, shaking his head. 

"You're one to talk!" Arthur exclaimed. 

"Am I silly enough to like someone, who's unavailable?" Merlin asked suddenly, turning the tide of the conversation with his serious question. 

"You're right," Arthur agreed quietly after a heartbeat. "I'm a bloody idiot for being in love with someone, with whom I have absolutely no chance. I intend to stop." 

"Really?" Merlin asked in astonishment. "Just like that?" 

"I might as well," Arthur said with a sigh. "The more I think about it, the more I laugh at myself for being an idiot. I hate the feeling. I've tried to stop loving her before, but I'll work harder at it now." 

"Goodbye to both of our loves, then," Merlin said with an absent sigh. 

"Both of our loves?" Arthur questioned. "What are you talking about, Merlin?" 

"That's my own business," Merlin harumphed. "I shouldn't have said anything." 

"Whatever," Arthur muttered, dropping the subject. As much as he wanted to hear about what sounded like a hint to Merlin’s love life, he didn't want to be the actual arsehole, who forced Merlin to discuss it. Still, the idea of Merlin being heartbroken over someone brought an icky feeling to his gut. 

Merlin fell asleep a few hours later, situated amongst mounds and mounds of lego pieces. He must have have been tired from organising them into little piles around them for the past several hours. Arthur crawled over to him, watching the man breathe deeply and undisturbed. His messy hair fell into his face, almost covering his eyes completely. 

Arthur knew that he didn't want to eat dinner or spend the evening the alone. However, he didn't know what had compelled him to invite Merlin, out of all people. Why had he? 

Tentatively, he reached for the loose locks of hair covering Merlin’s eyes and nose. He moved them aside, staring down at Merlin's peaceful expression. Merlin exhaled, letting out a soft sigh in the process. Arthur smiled slightly at the sight. However, that shook him out of his reverie. Realised what he was doing, Arthur staggered back from shock, away from Merlin. _Why_ had he been doing that? Suddenly feeling uneasy with Merlin here, Arthur prodded him awake. 

"Huh? What?" Merlin muttered sleepily, sitting up and blinking rapidly. "Did I fall asleep?" 

"Yeah," Arthur answered roughly. "You should go home now." 

"But can't I just-" 

"No, I really think you should go home," Arthur insisted. He needed to spend the night doing something other than watching Merlin. Something told him that he would only be able to do that, if the man stayed. 

"Fine," Merlin grumbled, standing up and swaying in his feet from tiredness. Arthur watched him stumble around, looking for the door handle to his flat. After a few moments, he was gone, leaving Arthur even lonelier than he before Merlin arrived. 

~ 

"Who was that girl, again, Lance?" Gwen asked, not taking her eyes away from the dishes that she was stacking into the washing machines. 

"Just a friend, who I met around the neighbourhood by accident," Lance told her. Then, cheekily, he asked, "Why? Are you jealous?" 

"Of course I am," Gwen said with a mock pout. She didn't need Lancelot to know that she was telling the truth. Having such vulnerable feelings be thrust into the open would allow others to take advantage of her. Even if others meants Lance. 

"It's a good change for you and our relationship, then," Lance said absently. "Now you know how I've felt for the past for the past ten years." 

"Oh, don't be like that," she begged. "I'm more selfish than you will ever be. It's a lot worse for me, to see you string along someone, who I have never met before. Especially on a date to my party." 

"Oh, is it?" he challenged. 

"I really am selfish, when it comes to the matter of the heart," she confessed. She knew she was being hypocritical, because of her own previous relationship, but it didn't stop her from feeling bitter. "Sometimes, I think that because of our domesticity, such as this petty jealousy, we might as well get married." 

"It would only be fair in the marriage, if I were allowed to be jealous, too," Lance muttered. 

"But then I remember that there's more to marriage than just being jealous for stupid reasons," she continued, ignoring his words. "Either way, screw it. I like the way things are right now between us." 

For some reason, saying that almost felt like a deceit. 

~ 

The next day at work, the usual comfort between him and Merlin just wouldn't come to Arthur. Merlin continued going about as always: clumsily, but with great enthusiasm and energy. Still, Arthur seemed to have lost his footing about handling the man, for whatever reason. Everything he said to Merlin rang nothing short of awkward in his ears. He was probably hallucinating, but it was still bothering him. 

Throughout the day, he found himself experiencing the strange need to keep Merlin in his sight. In his proximity, even. That was unacceptable, since they both had work to do. Still, that didn't stop him from using his own dirty methods of having Merlin be close to him. 

"Merlin, pour me another coup," he ordered. Merlin complied without a word. After Arthur's cup of coffee was served, however, he felt like their moment of interaction passed too quickly. 

"Merlin, carry in the bag of coffee beans from outside," he ordered again, almost cracking up at Merlin’s disgruntled expression. 

"I'm not your manservant," he muttered, nevertheless following his instructions. 

Even after that task was completed, Arthur didn't stop there. The growing distaste in Merlin's expressions was not the warning that it should have been. Instead, Merlin’s disgruntled looks were just too priceless, pushing Arthur into giving him order after order. He even caught the attention of Leon and Percy. While the former only looked on in confusion, the latter constantly stepped in to help Merlin with the heavy lifting. At least the two were getting along. 

Even after satisfying his sadistic need of pissing Merlin off, Arthur simply couldn't take his eyes off of him. Whenever he began to concentrate on his work, the need to glance at Merlin grew from a simple itch to an intense burn. Because he didn't know how to explain it, Arthur continued succumbing to it. 

At one point, when Arthur looked over at Merlin, he saw him struggling to reach a certain mug from the top of a shelf. Arthur approached him immediately to help, only halting his steps at the last minute. He creeped up to him, until he was close enough to reach over Merlin and take the mug down himself. His chest was barely grazing Merlin's back. However, when the latter noticed Arthur's arm, he spun around in surprise. The movement caused him to spring back a little. He would have collided with the shelf and all of its china, if not for Arthur, who caught Merlin around the waist and held him back. With a gasp, Merlin’s breath caught in his throat. 

On his way back to his working area, Arthur kept glancing over at Merlin. The latter sniffed his hair gingerly, probably worried over his possible odour. Arthur almost doubled over in choked back laughter. Distracted, he didn't notice that he was walking directly in Gaius' path. 

"You might as well admit that you like Merlin, instead of harassing him so much," the old man said with a raised eyebrow. Blood torpedoed to Arthur's face in embarrassment. 

"What?" he sputtered, flustered. "I don't- I wasn't- I wasn't doing that!" 

"Oh, really?" Gaius muttered, continuing on his way. Arthur stared after the man in horror. Of course he liked Merlin. But did he _like_ Merlin? Oh god, it just sounded like complete bullshit in his mind. It was definitely impossible. 

~ 

The next several days passed with no sign of Merlin. Lance hadn't realised how attached he had become to the girl, until the time to miss her like crazy arrived. It was his fault, of course. He had made her feel uncomfortable, and now she didn't want to spend time with him. He had apologised, but that wasn't enough to have everything go back to normal between them. Here he was, pacing his house in agitation and worry, fearing that what happened between them was irreparable. He had to try to fix this, at least. 

Knowing her address, he headed over to her part of the neighbourhood via bicycle. He sent her a text, letting her know that he would like to meet her outside. Thankfully, by the time he arrived, she was already waiting for him with a rainbow umbrella. He hadn't driven all this way in the rain for nothing. 

"I'm worried that you've been avoiding me," he called to Merlin, parking his bike and coming to sit besides her. 

"I'm sorry that I haven't been stopping by," she responded guiltily, refusing to meet his eyes. "It's just that I've started working early in the mornings at Coffee Prince, too. It's difficult working both jobs as it is, considering the effort I'm trying to put into Coffee Prince." 

Lance knew it was the truth: Merlin didn't lie, and Arthur constantly complained about having her over during working hours for longer and longer. Still, it felt like an excuse for something else, something more relevant, like her feelings. 

"I'm really gonna miss Knight," Merlin said wistfully. 

"What about me?" Lance asked in a teasing tone, despite meaning the question one hundred percent. 

"I can still call you, if I want to talk to you," Merlin said quickly, bristling. Wonderful. Lance had managed to make her feel out of her element once again. 

"I'm sorry for doing this again," he said genuinely. "Making you feel awkward. And especially for the art show, I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?" 

Merlin faced away from him slightly, but Lance was able to catch her wet cheeks in the light of the street lamp. 

"Because you're such a good person..." she muttered, sniffling. She halted. Lance knew that it was difficult for her to say it. "Because I like you so much - and I didn't know it, myself, how much I liked you -, I went home that day with an aching heart. It was a painful yet realistic experience. But I'm fine now. Gwen is beautiful, refined, talented. I know that there's no point in being attached to someone unavailable, so I'm giving up. I truly hope that you'll be happy together. And I do forgive you. 

She turned towards him bravely, flashing him an enthusiastic grin that she held. It was a little forced, especially with the tears still streaming down her face. Still, it looked like it came from a real place in her heart. He smiled back, well aware that his emotions were being conveyed perfectly in his expression. He felt sympathy the strongest for Merlin, despite the fact that it was unrequited love for _him_ that pained her. While it usually annoyed him, if he were the object of a crush, it didn't apply to Merlin. He watched her suffer through this, feeling genuine sorrow that he had broken her heart. 

Lance forced himself to admit the regret that he felt at losing Merlin's attraction and admiration. Their friendship would remain, but Merlin would still inevitably pull away. He knew it was for the best, but that didn't stop his disappointment. 

The next few days were a true test to their friendship. He tentatively called her to ask about her day, and she responded in kind. He could tell the difference in their interaction. It had less hopeful enthusiasm on Merlin's part, more satisfaction from their short conversations or meetings. As for Lance, he had more desperation than ever before to make sure that Merlin would still be interested in his company. 

On the other hand, Lance felt relieved, too. He was able to chat with her for hours on end and not feel like he were somehow giving her false hope. Friendship was easier and more comfortable to manage between them. Occasionally, Lance was forced to choose between talking to Merlin and spending time with Guinevere at her every beck and call. He chose Merlin every time. After all, Gwen had made him suffer the same thing. Why wasn't he allowed to finally see how much Gwen really cared about _him_? 

~ 

It wasn't to say that Coffee Prince didn't have the occasional customer: it did. It was just that the six of them could spend hours and hours in the day at a time with nothing to do. So it was a great surprise, when a crowd of schoolgirls piled in one morning, as well as the next afternoon, and the next morning again. Merlin wasn't arguing, since customers were a good thing. Still, there was something fishy about a completely female audience suddenly appearing, focusing less on the coffee and more on the four handsome guys behind the counter. Arthur being the fourth, not Merlin. 

"What did you do, Freya?" Merlin asked, as soon as she spotted her sister among one of the groups of girls. "Did you invite the whole female population of your school?" 

"Not exactly," Freya said cheekily. "I took some videos on your phone and mine and compiled some advertisements.” 

She pulled out her old iPod, thrusting it into Merlin's hand. It was open to the YouTube app. Pressing play, Merlin watched the homemade advertisement of Coffee Prince. Like she had expected, it was centred around the "neighbourhood hotties" at work, even including Merlin in some shots. The comment section was flooded with smitten girls cooing over all of them, much like they were doing now. 

"Is there a saying about any customers being good customers?" Merlin asked absently, handing back the iPod. "Because there should be. It applies here." 

~ 

Arthur was getting tired of having Merlin buzz around in the corner of his thoughts. It was a constant distraction, one that he didn't need at the moment, with all the work piling up for Coffee Prince. It wasn't Merlin's direct fault, but he was the cause of Arthur being the one at fault. Inevitably, Merlin received the rough end of the stick, which happened to be Arthur's cold shoulder. He felt bad, but that was the only way to thrust Merlin entirely from his mind. Even when Merlin begged for Arthur to explain himself, the latter had nothing to say. Taking the bait would mean having a conversation with Merlin, which would lead to thoughts and feelings that Arthur wasn’t comfortable with evaluating. 

To go even further on taking his mind off of Merlin, Arthur scheduled a date with Gwen. Actually, it was she who invited him to the cinema. She explained that things were a little weird with Lance, and that she needed to spend a night out with a friend. True to his word to Merlin, Arthur had been working to keep his mind off _her_ for the past few days, too. Interestingly enough, he found that he barely had to try, since he was so preoccupied with Merlin, instead. Ironically, he had to take advantage of Gwen's invitation to take his mind off of Merlin this time. 

On their way to the cinema, they took a lift upstairs. They stood side by side in comfortable silence. However, Arthur had to break it, knowing that he couldn't remain in the darkness forever. 

"Gwen, can I give you a hug?" he asked her seriously. 

"What?" she asked with a confused laugh. "You don't have to ask for my permission or a hug. I won't say no to one." 

Arthur pulled her in for a hug, cradling her back with his left hand and her head with the other. It felt really nice to hold her. Her face pressed into his shoulder. In a different setting and with a different person, it would be a wonderful experience, filled with romantic promise. Even as the opening doors revealed a confused crowd of people and made them pull away awkwardly, Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. Even though his feelings for Gwen were ebbing, he was still attracted to women. It was a relief: suddenly becoming gay was a plan for neither this lifetime, nor the next. 

The movie that they went to see was the continuation of _How To Train Your Dragon_. Even though he liked it on its own, Arthur couldn't help but transform the energetic dragon in his mind into Merlin. It made him chuckle to himself throughout the whole movie. Though he was pleased with his attraction to women, it was unsettling that the younger man returned to his thoughts so very often. 

~ 

Since Arthur was being a royal prat and refusing to give Merlin the time of day, she spent a majority of her free time outside of work hanging out with Lance and Knight. They walked down streets together often, just talking. Now, they soared higher and higher on a set of swings on a childhood playground in the neighbourhood park. Knight watched them restlessly and barked, probably wondering, how humans managed to fly. 

"How's work?" Lance asked her through a huff of air, as he pumped his legs to make the swing go even higher. 

"Guy D continues to bother Girl E," Merlin confessed. 

"Surely Guy D must like Girl E by now?" Lance asked with a laugh. "Or is it still a boss-employee relationship?" 

"Yes, still boss-employee," Merlin agreed bitterly. "He likes another woman. She’s very beautiful." 

"And Girl E doesn't like him, either?" 

"No," she said out loud. _Actually, she doesn't know if she loves him,_ she thought. _All she knows is that she is also in love with another handsome, unavailable man._

After Merlin and Lance returned to his place, she realised that she was rightfully yet disgustingly soaked in her own sweat. She had run around with Knight, chasing him down the street and back up to Lance. She hadn't thought about the effects of her exertion on her clothing. Merlin lifted her arms and sniffed. At seeing Lance watching her, she blushed, quirking her nose simultaneously from her terribly noticeable body odour. 

"Would you like a change of clothing?" Lance offered casually, causing Merlin to break into relieved laughter. 

"Yes, please," she agreed, nodding. 

"You are welcome to use the main restroom down the hall," he said, offering her a t-shirt and sweats. Not so different from her typical casual appearance, even if the clothes were several sizes too big. 

The shower was a relief - a cool to Merlin's skin and a nice smell, which was a contrast to her previously stinking armpits. However, when she turned off the water, she could hear voices from the window in the bathroom. Tightly wrapped in her towel, she tiptoed down the hallway. She peeked outside of the thin curtains, which blew in front of the balcony. 

Lance was standing with his back to Merlin, waving his hands frantically at Gwen, who was barging her way across his front yard with a confused yet amused smile. Merlin gasped, wanting to retreat behind the hallway corner. Unfortunately, at that exact moment, a gust of wind blew the curtain away from her, revealing Merlin to Gwen's curious eyes. The latter gasped, causing Lance to turn around in worry. 

_Shit,_ Merlin thought. 

~ 

Merlin disappeared from the door of the balcony in a flurry, but a glimpse of him had been enough for Gwen to discern the slight female curves of his body underneath the towel. She slowly looked back at Lance, who was biting his lip in a combination of worry and guilt. 

"Merlin is...?" Gwen began, unable to string the words together. 

"Please, don't spill her secret to anyone at work, okay?" Lance asked urgently, looking genuinely concerned. "It's really important to her, and she can't afford to be fired by stubborn Arthur." 

" _Her_?!" Gwen sputtered. She was willing to believe that Merlin was a pre-operation trans man, but the idea of Merlin actually being a girl seemed even farther than impossible. He - _she_ \- was just too masculine to be read as a woman, even after first glance. "Merlin is a woman, pretending to be a man?" 

"Yes, because she doesn't want to lose her job," Lance explained quietly. 

"So, this is where you've been putting all of your time, is it?" Gwen asked after a moment, smiling slyly. She stepped around Lance, making her way towards the house. "I think I would prefer it, if she were truly a man. That way, I wouldn’t suspect you of anything secretive." 

"Gwen!" Lance called after her. 

"Don't worry, I won't tell Arthur," she said, looking over her shoulder. As she entered, she didn't notice that Merlin was sitting in silence on the living room sofa. With Gwen's words, Merlin looked up. 

"You won't?" she asked quietly. Her bursting, surprised hope made Gwen's heart ache. Even though she didn't know what to feel about Merlin's friendship with Lance, she couldn't not pity Merlin. She couldn't afford to lose her job, and no one deserved something so intimate about them being revealed. 

"No, I won't," Gwen assured her, tousling the hair on Merlin’s bowed head. "And I won't use the information to blackmail you, either. But tell me, why are you pretending? _Are_ you pretending? I mean, you aren't-?" 

"I'm a girl, yes," Merlin confirmed, nodding solemnly. "I didn't mean to lie to Arthur at first. When he first mistook me for a man, I didn't correct him, because I hadn't expected our acquaintanceship to soon transform into a working relationship, or even into friendship. I'm going to tell him eventually that I'm a girl, but I haven't decided when or how. I have no idea what his response would be." 

"It does seem like a difficult situation," Gwen agreed sympathetically. She had never experienced something similar, so she couldn't possibly imagine the inconveniences Merlin faced every day. Either way, it was difficult for her to suddenly wrap her mind around female Merlin, hiding such a secret. 

After Merlin left hurriedly, apologising to Lance several times for running into him on the doorstep, Gwen strolled over to him across the living room. The look on his face was contorted into a mix of confusion and worry. Still, it was difficult to discern what was going through his mind at that moment. 

"So," Gwen began, rocking back and forth on her feet and poking his bicep. "Seems like you really like Merlin, huh?" 

"Um, she's a good person," Lancelot replied awkwardly, refusing to meet her eye. It was a little staggering: he had never been this bothered by her incessant teasing. 

"Oh, come on, tell me the juicy bits," she prodded. "She's lovely, and it's easier to hang out with her than with me, isn't it?" 

Lance muttered something under his breath and waved a hand in her general direction. 

"I might start believing that you're in love with her, if you act like that," Gwen joked, brushing past Lance with a laugh. He didn't follow her. 

~ 

Having practically the whole universe find out about her wasn't enough of a punishment for Merlin, apparently. Besides the fear of either Percy or Gwen confessing her secret and crushing the fragile pillars of her entire life, she also had to deal with Arthur's perpetual wrath. He seemed to find the cruelest joy in never leaving her alone to do the humble task of making coffee. Instead, she had spent the whole workday running after him, completing either the most tedious - dusting Arthur's entire desktop - or difficult - loading bags of coffee beans on the top shelves - jobs. By the end of the day, she wasn't as much exhausted physically as mentally - the exasperation she experienced daily from dealing with Arthur was immense. 

"If you have a complaint about something I'm doing, just tell me!" she exploded at him eventually, refusing to wash the bathroom for the second time that day. "Don't just make me into your slave for no apparent reason!" 

She blew at the hair on her forehead in frustration, trying not to look like an angry bull. Arthur watched her without a word, so she huffed some more. When he wouldn’t respond, she rolled her eyes and smacking her hands on her thighs in an urge to hit something. She whirled away from him, with amusement seeing Percy and Leon copying her technique of angrily blowing her hair out of her face. 

Before Merlin had the chance to leave the room, Arthur caught up to her at a run, catching her wrist and yanking her around to face him. 

"What the fuck, Arthur?" she protested, as he dragged her in the opposite direction, onto the balcony of Coffee Prince's second floor. Arthur had been acting too unprofessionally all day for her to care about her language at the moment. 

As soon as Arthur leaned her against the railing of the balcony, his arms closed off both routes of escape. He stared at her intently, as if he were trying to solve a puzzle just underneath her skin. It was drenched in curiosity and incomprehension. It seemed as if Arthur were trying to figure something out. Almost as if he knew something important. The fact that she was a girl, possibly. Merlin lunged on her impulse to flee, but Arthur's strong and held her back. 

"Let's hug once," he said suddenly, his voice halfway between a plea and a wavering demand. It appeared completely out of the blue, and it was the last thing Merlin expected to hear. Before she had the chance to respond, Arthur barrelled on. 

"I can't think straight because of you," Arthur rushed to explain. "I can't figure out whether I want to murder you or hug you. I can't just kill you without facing the consequences, so let's just hug. It'll help me figure things out." 

"Arthur, what's gotten into y-" Merlin was cut off, as Arthur wrapped his arms around Merlin's shoulders and upper back, trapping her flailing arms. They stood like that for a while, with the warm hug slowly melting Merlin's rigid frame. Even after about a minute and a half, Arthur still didn't let her go. Not understand completely what was going on, Merlin tentatively wrapped her arms around him, too. When they started swaying back and forth almost imperceptibly, Merlin allowed herself to close her eyes. 

_He shouldn't hold me like that,_ Merlin thought with a small sigh. _It makes me want to tell him that I'm a woman._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is currently unbeta-ed. I don't have a beta at the moment, so if you're interested in beta-ing this fic for me or doing a beta-ing exchange, please let me know.


	7. Cup 7

Arthur couldn't help but get lost in the moment of his seemingly endless embrace with Merlin. However, breathing in deeply and scenting Merlin's sweetly shampooed hair jerked him back into reality. He pushed Merlin away from him, holding him at arm's distance. 

"Um, I'm sorry," he chuckled awkwardly, searching for the right words. "I don't think that was necessary. I've been worried over nothing." 

The desperate look that Merlin was giving him, with one hand picking at the cloth over his heart, was too much for Arthur to handle. He dashed back indoors, but the adrenaline rushing through his veins forced sink against the wall from exhilaration. He could still feel the surprise that had been etched into Merlin's bones as Arthur hugged him. It resonated underneath Arthur's fingertips, across his chest. He had lied: it wasn't nothing that had compelled Arthur to hold him. Still, Arthur didn’t know what it was. 

Throughout the whole night - during which Arthur barely had a wink of sleep - and morning, Merlin wouldn't leave his mind. It was obvious that he wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about him, so he might as well do something useful about it. 

The next morning, Arthur rang Merlin, ordering him to meet him at the bookstore near his flat. He didn’t respond to the younger man’s plethora of questions, since that would only ruin the surprise. 

“Are you planning on buying me presents?” Merlin called out, from where he was waiting for Arthur at the entrance of the store. Arthur simply glared at him, not bothering to explain. Merlin followed Arthur inside to the cooking section, where Arthur presented him with a bookshelf full of coffee making. 

“For you,” he said gruffly. Merlin gaped, looking back and forth between him and the books in awe. 

“You want to help me become a barista?” he asked softly, still looking dazed from surprise. 

“Yes,” Arthur responded tersely. He had the money to buy however many books Merlin wanted. Ergo, he had the power to help Merlin fulfill his dream. 

“What, you’re just going to buy me whatever I want?” Merlin asked, already skimming his fingers over the backs of the books. 

“I’ll provide you with all of the ones that you deem necessary,” he promised. “I know that you want to become a proper barista. To do that, you first have to learn more about it. I simply want you to succeed.” 

For the next ten minutes, he watched as Merlin dashed from bookshelf to bookshelf, digging out certain books and reading their descriptions. Some were thicker than others, but they all contributing to the growing stack at Arthur’s feet. 

“With this much material, I’ll surely become the best coffee brewer around, won’t I?” Merlin asked Arthur enthusiastically. “I’ll just spend every single hour of my free time reading, and every single working hour practising. This is just perfect. Arthur, there’s no way that I can express my gratefulness enough.” 

“Yes, well,” Arthur mumbled, crouching down to lift Merlin’s books. Ducking his head prevented Merlin from seeing the grin spreading on his face. There was no point in hiding it, however. When Arthur looked up, he saw the touched expression written across Merlin’s features. Arthur couldn’t help but smile brightly at the man’s happiness in return. 

As soon as they purchased the books and exited the building, Merlin received a ring by that girly ringtone of his. He dived for his pocket immediately. With annoyance, Arthur noticed Merlin’s elation as he read the name of his caller. He flipped the mobile open quickly, pressing it to his ear with an enthusiastic smile. 

“Hello?” he asked cheekily, and Arthur could barely keep his cool. “It’s always nice to hear from you… Oh, okay. Sure! Um…” 

There was a pause, during which Merlin’s expressions ranged from contemplative, to relaxed, to joyful. Arthur associated them with the way people tended to look whilst listening to music. To be sure, he stepped closer to Merlin, trying to hear what was going on on the other side of the conversation. He wasn’t surprised to hear bits of a lyrical piano tune. 

“Lance, that sounds wonderful,” Merlin said with a shy smile. “Thanks for sharing.” 

Wait a moment - Lance? Merlin was speaking to Lancelot du Lac, Arthur’s brother? 

“You’re talking to _Lancelot_?” Arthur asked Merlin bitterly, just as the latter was pocketing his mobile. “I didn’t even know that you were close enough with him to coo over his compositions.” 

“Arthur, don’t be angry at me for talking to-” Merlin began, but Arthur wouldn’t have any of it. He dropped the bag of heavy books on the ground in front of the man, turning in the direction of the metropolitan station. 

“Arthur, don’t be jealous!” Merlin called after him, retrieving the bag and jogging slightly to keep up. “He was only sharing a new piece with me.” 

Arthur ignored Merlin until they reached the metro, nevertheless slowing down to make it easier for him to carry the heavy books without difficulty. How could Arthur have honestly believed that he was one of the only people with whom Merlin was close? He shouldn’t have. It had immediately set him up for disappointment upon learning that Lancelot mattered to Merlin, too. He didn’t have the right to be jealous, really, since it wasn’t possible that he was experiencing any romantic attraction towards Merlin. Still, if he didn’t know any better, it would seem to Arthur that he were going through the same thing that he went through with Gwen all over again. 

“I can’t believe that you’re just like the rest of them,” Arthur scoffed, as soon as the two of them entered the metro. 

“Like what?” Merlin asked in confusion. “And like the rest of who?” 

“Your love for artistic people,” Arthur said bitterly. 

“You’re just jealous that you’re not artistic,” Merlin snorted, waving him off. Then, leaning in and rising on his toes, he whispered, “Because if you were, you know that I’d pay _you_ more attention, as well.” 

Arthur gulped, unable to respond. He turned his face away slightly, knowing that he couldn’t look at Merlin satisfied smirk without wanting to wipe it off of his face, one way or another. At that moment, however, the metro lurched, jostling Arthur and the people around him. In turn, someone’s back from behind him bumped into his, causing him to fly forward several centimetres and bumping his chest directly into Merlin’s upper body. He backed away instantly, holding himself up by placing an arm against the window behind Merlin, but Arthur still remained closer to Merlin than before. 

“Oh, no!” Merlin exclaimed in dismay, rustling around in his pocket for something. Arthur was shocked to see him retrieve the toy lego robot that Arthur had given to him in Sudbury. “It’s broken. I’m so sorry, Arthur. Your gift is ruined.” 

“Do you carry it everywhere with you or something?” Arthur asked, trying to sound as distasteful as possible. 

“Yeah,” Merlin admitted, turning the toy over in his hands with obvious disappointment. 

“Well, that’s what you get for having it on you and not being cautious about where it is,” Arthur admonished him gruffly. One of the legs had snapped off, where it had been pressed between Merlin’s and Arthur’s bodies. What happened to the toy didn’t matter to Arthur, but he wasn’t about to let Merlin know that. He couldn’t admit to the warm feeling in his chest that spread from knowing that Merlin thought highly enough of Arthur to treasure his gift in this way. 

“Arthur,” Merlin said cautiously after a few moments, “I think you’re making it difficult for the people around you by standing this way.” 

“What way?” Arthur asked, not knowing what Merlin was talking about. 

“With your arm straight like that,” Merlin said, pointing to Arthur’s left arm. It was still supporting Arthur and bracketing Merlin into his personal space simultaneously. 

“How do you suppose we fix that problem?” Arthur asked, rolling his eyes. “I can’t just-” 

Merlin didn’t finish listening to Arthur’s excuses, instead placing a hand on his left elbow and bending it. It threw Arthur slightly off balance, making him take another step closer to Merlin. People behind him quickly took advantage of the several centimetres of space, so there was no going back for him. Instead, he remained in that position without a word. Arthur’s lungs failed him, as an extra powerful inhale or exhale meant feeling Merlin’s body pressed against his. He tried and failed to take his mind off of the points of contact between them - the tip of Merlin’s nose pressed against his shoulder, Arthur’s elbow against Merlin’s bicep, his hips against the lower half of Merlin’s stomach, Merlin’s shoulder against Arthur’s bicep… Their proximity radiated in Arthur’s mind, which refused to think about anything else for the rest of the ride. 

The effect lasted throughout the day. Even when Arthur was alone in his flat, trying to get work done on his computer, his concentration was lacking one hundred percent. He wasn’t able to string two thoughts together without them being somehow about Merlin. Eventually, Arthur stopped trying to go against the wishes of his persistent brain. Clicking through some of the photos that he had downloaded onto his laptop, he pulled up a picture of Merlin from the day of the opening of Coffee Prince. He was laughing at something a customer was saying, with his head thrown back, hair flying, neck exposed. At least Arthur could admit that he wasn’t the one to take the photo: it was Morgana, who had volunteered to take pictures for future memories. Still, that didn’t make it any less stalkerish that this was the particular picture Arthur could spend watching for hours on end. 

“I’m the boss, and you’re the employee,” Arthur said seriously, pointing at the photo. “That’s it!” 

Photo Merlin almost seemed to be laughing directly at him. His eyelashes and cheekbones were both quite prominent in this shot, actually, which were two things that Arthur noticed, for some reason. Arthur swallowed, shaking his head in disappointment at himself. 

“It is with a heavy heart that I must admit that you’re quite an attractive employee at that, Merlin,” Arthur muttered. “But really, that’s it!” 

~ 

Despite the grief centred around today being the anniversary of her father’s death, Merlin entered Coffee Prince the next day with a smile on her face. She knew she was being quite risky in her behaviour around him, but she couldn’t wait to see Arthur. Ever since the hug, which seemed to set her soul on fire, all she could think about was him. If luck were on her side, he would probably remain in the dark about her gender forever, but that didn’t stop her mind from returning to the way he had acted around her all of yesterday. 

She ran into Gwaine on her way indoors, immediately noticing the toy he was holding in his hands. It was made out of legos, and it much resembled the broken robot she had in her pocket, even today. 

"What's that?" Merlin asked, sidling up to him. She watched Gwaine observe the toy with intrigue. 

"Arthur gave lego toys to the employees for Coffee Prince's one-month anniversary," he told her. "We found ours in our lockers. Yours should be there, too.” 

Merlin dashed off to the changing rooms, where her locker with her work uniform awaited her. Swinging open the locker door, she shucked through her belongings, but a toy was nowhere to be found. She sat back on her haunches, pouting. Maybe Arthur was saving one to give to her in person? That would set her apart from the others. Yes, it was probably different. Special. 

After changing into the uniform, she dashed out to find Arthur. Coincidentally, he ran into him in the hallway, causing him to step back in surprise. 

"Where's my gift?" she asked eagerly. 

"What gift?" he scoffed, brushing past her. His attitude had drastically changed since yesterday. 

"A lego toy, like the one you gave the others," Merlin clarified, following him. "I didn't find one in my locker. You have one for me, don't you?" 

"No, I don't," Arthur spat out. "You already got one. That's it." 

"What?" Merlin asked in genuine surprise, stopping in her tracks. "You didn't get a special one for me? But the one I have is broken, too." 

"Too bad," Arthur said, leaving her to sulk on her own. She had been determined not to feel sad on the anniversary of her father's death. Now, she felt sad for completely different reasons. 

After spending about half of the workday without running into Arthur again, she encountered him working on the upper floor on his laptop. He didn't even glance her way. 

"Leave early today, Merlin," Arthur said in an authoritative tone. "It's your father's death anniversary, isn't it? I send my condolences." 

"How do you know about it?" Merlin asked. 

"Gaius told me," Arthur responded. "Maybe you could invite the Coffee Princes over for dinner or something." 

"What, so you would have an excuse for coming and meeting my parents?" Merlin asked, scoffing. She was about to turn, but Arthur's serious voice stopped her. 

"Do you like me?" he asked. She couldn't see the expression on his face, but the question still shocked her into silence. She couldn't respond. "Don't. Entertaining false hopes will only break your heart." 

Merlin nodded, despite the fact that Arthur couldn't see her. It was too late not to like him. However, if kept up with this attitude forever, it would certainly be easier to try. 

She did go home early. She didn't even have to convey Arthur's suggestion to Hunith, who was already cooking dinner for the annual memorial crevice. Gaius, Percy, Leon, and Gwaine all visited the three of them that evening, as per Freya's persistent invitations. 

Arthur didn't show, just like Merlin hadn't expected him to. So it was incredibly surprising in the best of ways to receive a message of her own from him. After the Princes left, a package was delivered at their building, which Merlin noticed, when she finally went to pick up the mail for the day. It was a box of lego figures, more intricate than either the robot or the gift Arthur had given Gwaine. 

_Steel arms, steel legs,_ the attached message said. _That's what these guys have. You need to buck up and be strong on this difficult day, Merlin. I believe in you._

Merlin tried to bite back her grin. She rushed upstairs to her flat. Unable to decipher this on her own, she went straight to the room she shared with Freya, where her sister was lounging on her bed, doing nothing, much to no one’s surprise. 

"I can't believe the amount of thoughtfulness behind this," Merlin confessed in a rush, laying the toys out on the bed in front of Freya. "What could they mean, really? Is this a confession? Or is this just something friends do? Am I supposed to interpret this romantically? Am I supposed to sense a sign of romance, and that's it? Is there any romance? Can he be interested in me at all?" 

"Don't confuse love with friendship, Merlin," Freya said with a sigh. "Arthur's a straight bloke, who thinks you're a man." 

"But some blokes do question their sexuality, or end up finding ‘the one’," Merlin argued. 

"If you're his ‘one’, that doesn't make him gay, since you're a girl," Freya pointed out. "And if he's not gay, you can't expect him to suddenly experience a gay epiphany." 

"Do you mean to say that this is a chicken-egg situation?" Merlin asked doubtfully. "That makes absolutely no sense. Can't we say that there's just love?" 

"It's not as simple as that, Merlin," Freya said sadly, shaking her head. 

Despite the heavy truth in Freya's words, Merlin dialled Arthur's number anyways, as soon as she settled into bed. If her feelings wouldn't give her a straight answer about the gifts, then Arthur would have to. 

"Arthur?" Merlin asked excitedly, as soon as she heard the call connect. 

_"What now, Merlin?"_ came Arthur's brusque tone. 

"I just want to thank you for the gift," she said softly, aware of the smile in her voice. "I personally thought that it was quite thoughtful. I-" 

_"Don't get worked up over nothing, Merlin,"_ Arthur said quickly. _It barely means anything special, so stop ringing me over such useless things."_

Without waiting for Merlin to pick up her heart from the floor, he hung up. She flopped back onto her back with a long sigh, feeling like a failure at getting some kind of real reaction from Arthur. 

“He’s such a drama queen,” she muttered into the darkness of their room. 

“I don’t think you have much of a right to complain, Merlin,” Freya said matter-of-factly. “Arthur this, Arthur that. Your mood swings depend on the way he treats you, which seems to be millions of different ways. I thought you were against women being controlled by men like that.” 

“It’s easier to preach independence instead of apply it to personal life,” Merlin confessed. Having a slight crush on someone as capricious as Arthur was indeed difficult. Crawling half-way out of bed, she reached for one of the figurines, which was standing on her bedside table. Holding it in her hands, she looked at it through the darkness under the covers. Eventually, she gave it a light kiss, before placing it by her pillow and settling down to sleep. 

The next morning before work, Merlin got up extra early to prepare some breakfast for her and Arthur. On some of their good days, she had the tendency of preparing food for the two of them to eat at Coffee Prince. After calling him and hearing that he was in the middle of a morning run, she promised to meet him on the intersection of Arthur’s street with the main boulevard. The fact that he seemed reluctant didn’t stop Merlin from begging him to wait up for her instead of returning straight home. He was just having one of those Arthur-like mood swings that they talked about at the barbeque place on the day of Coffee Prince’s opening. Merlin knew that he’d come around. 

To Merlin’s confusion and dismay, Gwen was already there, eating breakfast with Arthur. His back was to her, placing Merlin in Gwen’s line of sight. Merlin stopped in her tracks, almost dropping the lunchbox she was holding. Arthur had called Gwen along to push Merlin away? Seeing recognition in Gwen’s eyes, Arthur turned around. As soon as his eyes met Merlin’s, he turned swiftly back to Gwen, who looked over at Merlin apologetically. 

“I know you made this for me, Gwen, but you have to eat something,” Arthur said, speaking a bit louder than before. He stuck some food on his fork, bringing it to Gwen’s mouth. “Come on, open up.” 

“Arthur,” Gwen admonished him, taking the fork out of his hand. “What’s gotten into you?” 

“I’m just trying to care for you well-being, honestly,” he assured her. “You’re constantly so thin. It’s obvious that Lancelot doesn’t care enough.” 

“He’s just trying to annoy me,” Merlin said, approaching them warily. “That’s it.” 

“Not everything is about you, Merlin,” Arthur said scornfully, not turning to look at her. “Guinevere, I disliked Merlin at first. Did you know that he’s the one who brought your purse back the day some thug stole it?” 

“That was you?” Gwen asked in amazement. “Arthur, why didn’t you tell me earlier? Thank you so much for that, Merlin. I didn’t have the chance to say that earlier.” 

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Arthur said with a bitter laugh. “He wasn’t perfectly honest with the way he returned it to you. He let the thief go, planning out an elaborate scheme and everything. I thought he was a conman at first, but I’ve since been proved wrong. He’s the head of his family and the breadwinner, and he’s constantly working multiple jobs. From the time I’ve met him, I know he delivered noodles, delivered milk, worked at his martial arts studio, served at some restaurant, sewed on teddy bear eyes. Now he’s working at Coffee Prince. He’s just such a busy guy.” 

Throughout Arthur’s speech, which was layered with sarcasm and false fascination, she could feel her heart sinking farther and farther into her stomach. She was quickly being consumed by a gnawing feeling of betrayal and shame. 

“I don’t think you have a right to making fun of the way others live,” she pointed out bitterly. “You have your own quirks, too, don’t you? Your ‘habit’ that you can’t get rid of? Why can’t you, since it’s been so long?” 

Arthur turned around then, narrowing his eyes with contempt. “How _dare_ you bring that up right n-” 

“You live such an easy life, Arthur Pendragon, and you rely on those around you, who are struggling, to provide you with your personal entertainment!” Merlin almost screeched. 

“You’re the one who puts on the cute and pitiful act on twenty four seven, making it so easy for others to laugh at you!” Arthur exclaimed, his tone steadily rising. “And you’re so unperceptive, you can’t even tell that I don’t want to spend time with you. I simply wish to be left alone with Guinevere. Stop trailing us like a lost puppy. Find someone else to annoy.” 

Turning around quickly enough to hide her fall of tears from Arthur, she stalked off, not even bothering to pick up the lunchbox on her way. 

~ 

Seeing Grunhilda across the street, Gwaine started running towards her. If he would be late even a minutes longer, she would probably disappear, taking all traces of Elena with her. 

“Gwaine,” she greeted him, as soon as he halted right besides her. “I thought you wouldn’t show.” 

“Is there any news from Elena?” he asked, getting straight to the point. It had been so difficult to follow her path from France, and he had spent the past three years searching all of England for her. He wouldn’t waste another second with this meaningless chatter. 

“I think it’s best that you give up looking for her, dear,” Grunhilda said sympathetically. “If you haven’t gained any leads by now, it’s obvious that she doesn’t want to be found.” 

“But I want to be with her,” he protested. “Not just be with her - I want to care for her, and for the child. I can be for them with both love and financial support. I can do that. I _want_ to do that.” 

“But we don’t always get what we want, do we?” the elderly woman asked. Gwaine raised a hand, about to say something more to make his point, but all the energy had gone out of him. 

“Just tell her…” Gwaine began. He stopped, took a breath, and tried again. “Just tell her that I _know_ that it’s a huge burden. If Elena would let me, I would carry it completely on my shoulders. Tell her that I want to be by their side. If that’s not possible, I just want the right to see them every once in awhile.” 

“I can do that, dearie,” Grunhilda assured him, placing a comforting hand on his cheek. Gwane exhaled, sinking into a couch in the middle of the pavement. His head fell into his hands. With every passing day, it seemed as if he would never see Elena again. 

~ 

“A chai tea latte,” the customer said. Even though the order hadn’t been phrased in the most respective of ways, it was up to Merlin to be as polite as possible. But after what happened with Arthur, it was difficult to concentrate on unicorns and rays of sunshine to make the rude woman in front of her happy. 

“What size?” Merlin asked back, much in the same tone. 

“A tall,” the woman ordered, eyeing Merlin disdainfully. As soon as Merlin began preparing the drink in a paper cup, however, the woman stopped her angrily. 

“In a mug, of course!” she exclaimed. “Did I say paper cup? I thought the default at Coffee Prince was a mug. Coffee served otherwise is simply disgusting.” 

“You are required to clarify that, ma’am,” Merlin said through gritted teeth. “If you are unable to see that every customer before you either ordered a mug or received a paper cup, then it is not my fault that-” 

“How dare you show attitude with a customer, you dimwitted-” Merlin didn’t hear the rest of her angry complaint, as Arthur took that opportunity to pull Merlin from behind the counter and outside by the scruff. 

“What the _fuck_ is so difficult about complying with a customer’s order, Merlin?” Arthur yelled, almost slamming Merlin against the outside wall of Coffee Prince. 

“That’s easy for you to say,” Merlin complained. “You haven’t had to deal with it. It’s hard taking an impossible customer’s order. It’s hard delivering milk. It’s hard delivering food, and it’s hard sewing eyes on teddy bears, too!” 

“Why are you even bringing that up?” Arthur asked in frustration. 

“When did I give you the permission to tell other people everything about me?” she asked him seriously. “Why do you talk to people about my life without asking for my permission? Why?!” 

“What about you, you hypocrite?” Arthur almost shouted. “‘Bad habit’? However dumb you may be, how can you not differentiate between what you should and shouldn’t say in front of other people? And then you say that _I’m_ being conceited?” 

“Who was the one, who said that I put on a pitiful, cute act? That’s incredibly humiliating, in case you didn’t realise! You _know_ why I do what I do! It’s because I have no choice but to earn a living for my family! God, so dirty, so despicable.” 

“Despicable?!” Arthur shouted, growing read in the face. “Dirty? Who is? _Me_? To _you_?!” 

“No!” Merlin exclaimed, stomping her foot. “I’m talking about the way I live!” 

Percy and Leon ran up to them at that moment, pulling them away from each other. Percy placed his hands on Merlin shoulders, while Leon pulled at Arthur’s arms. However, both Merlin and Arthur were too angry to care about the restraints. 

“The only reason that I took you in to work for me was because I felt sorry for you,” Arthur spit out, trying to lunge out of Leon’s grip. 

“Oh, don’t bother with you pity,” she snarled. 

“Oh, yeah?” Arthur taunted. “Have you completely lost your memory? You’re the one who begged me for this job!” 

“Oh, yeah?” Merlin repeated. “Then I guess things at Coffee Prince will be fine, if I leave!” 

“Are you scared that you’ll find nowhere else to go?” Arthur asked with a cruel smile. “If not, then get the fuck out! I don’t need bastards like you working for me.” 

“What the fuck is wrong with _you_ , Arthur?” Leon asked quietly, but Merlin didn’t hear the response. She broke out of Percy’s grip, running towards her bike as fast as her feet would let her. 

Not knowing anyone else, who could lift her spirits up as well as Lancelot did, she biked straight to his place. With barely any questions, he interpreted her downcast mood as a sign that cheering up was in order. It felt weird to ride around in an English car for once, with the wheel on the right side, after sitting in the right hand passenger seat of Arthur’s Tesla so many times. Even in the aftermath of the fight, with Lance telling her stories about the his own fights with Arthur in their childhood, Merlin could only think about what Arthur was doing right now. Was he thinking about her? Was he regretting all of his yelling? 

“Are you going to go back?” Lance asked, looking over at her. 

“Now that I’ve walked out, I surely can’t go back, can I?” she asked. “I technically quit myself, before he professed to fire me. It would be embarrassing to beg him to take me back again. He said that he took me in out of pity, because I was desperate for a job. He was right.” 

“Until you’ve cooled down enough to make your decision, I think it’s best if I take your mind off of all of this with a fun, musical activity,” Lance said, purposefully smiling mysteriously. 

“What type of musical activity?” she asked, looking over at him. “Do I get to listen to more of your music? It made Arthur jealous, by the way, when he found out that I was listening to you on my mobile. I don’t know what’s gotten into him since then.” 

“Well, we’ll just have to keep making him jealous, until he comes running back, won’t we?” Lance asked with a laugh, switching lanes to head back home. 

Back at his studio, Lance directed Merlin to the recording room, where he gave her a set of earphones to wear. He closed the door behind her, standing on the other side of the window. 

“This is something professionals do, isn’t it?” Merlin asked, waiting for the music to appear through the earphones. 

“As I’m a professional, I must agree,” Lance teased. “Anyways, listen. Various instruments are going to join in one at a time. I want you to tell me what you think after hearing each one. Okay?” 

“Got it,” Merlin agreed. 

After a few moments, the drumbeat appeared. Merlin listened to it for several seconds, allowing herself to absorb the sounds. “It sounds like a heartbeat, I think. You know, since it’s a gentle thump, over and over again? It’s quite steadying.” 

“It is, isn’t it?” Lance commented with a smile. “Now listen to this.” 

A jazzy keyboard joined in alongside the drumbeat. It didn’t sound like a grand piano, definitely not. It had an upbeat melody, which Merlin recognised from her appreciation of the musical genre. 

“Don’t you think it’s a little annoying, the keyboard?” he asked Merlin. “Kind of bratty, maybe?” 

“You’re right,” Merlin agreed. “As if she’s the sensitive, stick-skinny, only-vegetables type.” 

Lance burst out laughing, almost doubling over over the console. He added more instruments into the melody, like the base, the baritone saxophone, and the lonely flute, with Merlin providing entertaining roles for each. 

“You know what the most fascinating thing is?” Merlin asked him, after they were making their way out of the studio. “I haven’t listened to part separately like this before. I really don’t know how to explain this, but it feels like all of the parts are living. They thump, tingle, and flutter. It’s wonderful. Did you compose this?” 

“I did,” Lance said proudly. “I’m glad you found in enjoyable.” 

“It _was_ enjoyable,” Merlin assured him. “Your music, it’s simply wonderful.” 

“Thank you, Merlin,” he said kindly. Then, after a moment of thought, he said, “You know, I think you should return to Coffee Prince. I’ll talk to Arthur, if you w-” 

“Don’t,” Merlin cut him off immediately. “Please don’t talk about me to other people. From my experiences with Arthur today, I’ve learned that it makes me feel uncomfortable, miserable, and awful.” 

“Of course,” Lance conceded. “It’s your life, after all.” 

~ 

Arthur barely made it through work the rest of the day without succumbing to his need to either hit something or call Merlin to apologise. He had sealed the deal completely by firing him, so there was no backing out now. And what was the point of calling for a meaningless apology, if Arthur wouldn’t take Merlin back? 

When the workday was finished, he didn’t return home right away. Instead, he took a ride with roof of his car down, letting the breeze tousle his hair and calm him down. God, somehow, Merlin brought out either the extreme best or extreme worst in him. He felt guilty for yelling so much at the poor bloke, for constantly chipping away at the tough façade that Merlin carried around with him. It was Arthur’s mood swings that kept ruining their friendship and working relationship, and he needed to find a way to stop them. 

Eating dinner without any company in his flat didn’t take his mind off of the man. All he could think about was the memory of Merlin shoving either mounds of pasta into his mind, or two pieces of pizza at a time. 

“Merlin,” Arthur said seriously, pointing to the empty chair across his kitchen table, “come back to Coffee Prince.” 

No, that would sound like a weird combination of demanding and desperate. 

“Merlin,” Arthur tried again, tossing the basketball from the desk nearby as hard as he could at the wall across from him, “I don’t need your dramatic pretences! Return to Coffee Prince this instant.” 

No, Merlin would probably only start complaining about Arthur treating him like his servant. 

“Merlin, I’m sorry,” Arthur said softly, looking up at the ceiling. “It was out of place to talk about your life to Guinevere and to continuously take all of my anger out on you.” 

Arthur needed to be real to himself: he would never be able to say that outloud, at least not through gritted teeth. Bloody hell, this was absolutely impossible. 

After dinner, he spent some time in the toyroom, busying himself with the medieval construction. However, without Merlin there, it was lonelier than it had ever been before Merlin entered his life. 

“Knights, attack on my command,” Arthur shouted, taking two figures on horses in hand. “This foreign object of dark magic has no place in our kingdom!” 

He ran the knights over the toy car, the same one Merlin had scouted the day he had spend the evening in this room with Arthur. He only wished Merlin were here to yell at him about it, to fight back. 

~ 

It was already ten in the evening, but Lancelot still hadn’t returned home. Yes, he still spent time at his own place, but they had agreed on spending tonight at Gwen’s flat. But the dinner remained untouched on the table, with the wine bottle unopened. Gwen lied on the floor with her phone, scrolling through Lance’s albums that she had downloaded. She created a playlist out of her favourite pieces and put them on replay, listening to them until she fell asleep. Lancelot didn’t return during the night. 

The next morning, unable to handle being left in the dark by everyone around her, Gwen made her way to Coffee Prince. She went straight to Arthur, who was obviously involved in the problems with Merlin. From the way he had yelled at her at breakfast yesterday, something was going on. She wished she could have interfered somehow to help cool both of them down, but she was afraid to slip up in her pronouns. Also, with Merlin hiding something as vital as her gender from Arthur, it was difficult knowing what she was or wasn’t allowed to say. 

“Are you really going to mope around for the rest of time, instead of simply asking Merlin to come back to Coffee Prince?” Gwen heard Leon ask Arthur, as soon as she was within earshot. 

“He was who suggested leaving first,” Arthur responded, turning away from his friend. Percy stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. 

“Boss, you can’t let Merlin leave forever. He’s one of the hardest workers, and one of your closest friends.” 

“Percy’s right, Arthur,” Gwaine said, sweeping floors to Arthur’s other side. “I find that Merlin’s grown on me just like on the rest of us, but I know for a fact that you’ll miss him the most.” 

Arthur was about to respond, but whatever he was going to say was cut off as he turned to face Gwen. 

“Guinevere!” he exclaimed in surprise, approaching her with a smile on his face. “You haven’t stopped by Coffee Prince in awhile, have you? What brings you here?” 

“Lancelot’s too busy with his new girlfriend, that’s what,” she said with a sigh. Before Arthur had the chance to give voice to his confusion, she gave him a pointed look. “I don’t see Merlin around.” 

Arthur’s facial features dropped into a tired annoyance. “I was hoping you wouldn’t be like the rest of them.” 

“Ever since you started arguing yesterday morning, I’ve been worried for the both of you,” she insisted, turning him back to face her. “It was obviously important, now that you’ve gone and fired him. But that’s too extreme. I know you’d rather he be here.” 

“I’ll admit, I don’t know if I did the right thing,” Arthur confessed. “Now that Merlin’s not here, it feels like I need him. At the same time, imagining him being around and as annoying as always convinces me that I can make due without him.” 

“If you really felt that Merlin was better off, then you wouldn’t feel as uncertain as this,” Gwen pointed out, leading Arthur to the nearest unavailable table. “Doesn’t the fact that you have this problem in the first place tell you something? That you need him at least a little bit, maybe?” 

“Still, I can’t just bring him back with the snap of my fingers,” Arthur protested. “I got rid of him. I can’t ask him to come back.” 

“Sometimes you just have to toughen up, bite back your pride, and just do it,” Gwen said, patting his shoulder. “About five years ago, before I even had plans to leave for the States, I got into a huge fight with my gallerist. It was something stupid, probably. I was so angry, thinking that I’d never talk to her, much less work with her, ever again. After a month, though, she rang me. It was so unexpected, out of the blue. But do you know what she said? She asked me if four o’clock was good, or if seven was better. ‘For what?’ I asked. ‘For a play,’ she told me. So I found myself telling her that seven worked best for me. There were barely any questions asked. After a month, both of us were just dying to talk to one another and collaborate again. I guess we were just waiting for one of us to make the first move to repair things. In this situation, since you’re the boss, I think it’s your responsibility to take that step.” 

~ 

It felt weird, not spending the day working. Merlin didn’t know what she was waiting for: a call from Arthur, or a sudden strike of courage to call him herself. If there were no change by the next day, she would probably start reading the columns for open job opportunities. After having the thought of working part time jobs again rotate around her mind for the whole day, she was extremely surprised to receive a ring from none other than the Pain in [Her] Arse himself at half past seven in the evening. That was the name illuminated on the front of her mobile, as it buzzed on her bedside table. 

_“Let’s eat!”_ Arthur exclaimed, before Merlin had the chance to ask any questions. _“Noodles or the seafood place we went to before? For the blind dates, remember?”_

“I do,” Merlin said with a surprised smile, still trying to put two and two together. “And, um, the seafood place.” 

_“Wonderful,”_ he stated. _“Get there as soon as possible.”_

Without giving Merlin a chance to utter even a word, Arthur hung up. Merlin gaped in astonishment, letting her mobile drop into her lap. That complete _prat_! 

When Merlin met Arthur at the restaurant, the latter was waiting for her with several dishes at their table. She didn’t know what to say, and he just kept grinning wordlessly at her. She waved at him slightly, not feeling particularly up to conversation, before sitting across from her and digging into her ordered dish. It was fish of some kind, along with different types of salads. Arthur watched her, barely touching his own food. He simply sat there and stared, his smile never wavering. Merlin stared back, eventually not being able to hold back her own grin. 

“Why are _you_ smiling?” he asked with a chuckle. 

“I can ask you the same thing,” Merlin pointed out, waving her fork at him. 

“I’m watching you stuff food in your face,” he said matter-of-factly. “I think that constitutes as entertainment that garners smiling.” 

“Well, I’m smiling, because you’re smiling,” Merlin explained, looking down to hide the blush on her face. Arthur only grinned harder. 

Even though Arthur wasn’t supposed to drink, the round eyes that he used to beg her for several sips of vodka made her easily give in. It was enough to get him almost as drunk as she was, and especially enough for both of them to feel like going for a midnight skip after their dinner. 

“God, Merlin, I’ve never had so much fun in my life!” Arthur exclaimed, pulling Merlin along by swinging an arm around her shoulders. “I can’t believe that this is everything that I’m missing out on. Fuck my poor alcohol tolerance! I feel so sorry for myself. Thank god for this one day that my body was able to process several sips!” 

“Alcohol isn’t the only way to bring joy into life, Arthur,” Merlin told him. Then, after a thoughtful pause: “But it sure is the easiest one!” 

Arthur exploded in a full-bodied laughter, before taking off skipping again. Sooner or later, they arrived at the nearest plaza, which was alight with a stone fountain in its centre. Bright lights shined from the bottom of the pool, giving its columns a beautiful hue. Without giving it a second thought, Merlin tugged at Arthur’s sleeve with all her strength, taking both of them down into the water. 

“Jesus, Merlin, you-!” Arthur exclaimed with much enthusiasm, before Merlin jumped on his back and took him back down to the pool bottom. When he emerged below the surface, shaking the water off of himself like a wet dog, Merlin found herself standing less than two centimetres away from him. All of a sudden, sobriety was easy to achieve. 

“Merlin,” Arthur said in a low tone of voice, also sounding serious, “I want you to punch me. Once, but as hard as you can.” 

“What are you talking about?” she asked in confusion. She shook her head in disbelief. 

“I need you to know that I’ve never once looked down on you, Merlin,” he said, staring at her. Delivering milk and food, sewing doll eyes, waiting tables… Those aren’t insults. I say the things I do, because I truly believe that the way you live is impressive. You’re right, and I know it: I would never be able to do that myself.” 

“Don’t beat yourself up over it any longer, Arthur,” Merlin said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder for a brief moment. “I’m over my anger now.” 

“No, I insist that you hit me,” he pressed. “If I don’t take a hit from you, I won’t feel comfortable in my knowledge that you’ve repaid me for the terrible things I said. Please hit me.” 

Merlin turned away slowly, trying to calm her beating heart. The sudden depth and reality behind Arthur’s words was almost too much for her to handle. She walked a few steps forward, before spinning around and punching Arthur in his left cheekbone, being careful to miss his nose and eye. For a split second, the expression on his face was one of complete unregistered shock, before he plummeted backwards into the water once again. With a stunned laugh, Merlin dived in after him, pulling him up by the scruff. 

“You’re stronger than I expected,” he muttered, leaning on her for support. “And a lot quicker.” 

“I do martial arts, remember?” she asked, winking. “I may be smaller in size, but you should never underestimate me.” 

“I’m sorry that I told you that I took you in because of pity,” he said suddenly. The expression on his face was full of weariness. “That wasn’t true.” 

“It wasn’t?” Merlin asked softly. 

“No.” 

~ 

The next day at work, it was quite a surprise just how much other Princes were excited to see Merlin. Yes, they had become closer friends, but she didn’t realise that she had grown on them to that extreme. Leon danced around Merlin as soon as she entered Coffee Prince that morning, as enthusiastic about her being there as always. After greeting her with a single hug, Percy smiled at her, even when they were on opposites sides of the café. When Arthur passed by him, Percy even dared to whack him on the side of the head, angrily saying something, probably about forcing Merlin to quit for a day. It was especially surprising to see Gwaine offer her a small smile and a pat on the back, making her blush involuntarily. It was rare for the secluded man to make any notice of her presence. 

Of course, Arthur’s shift of mood, out of all of theirs, made Merlin the happiest. He didn’t spend the day with his nose buried in his computer. Even while working, he looked up at Merlin with relieved smiles, those that were both relieved, affectionate, and grateful. It made Merlin want to come up with more excuses to stop by the upper floor of the café, where Arthur tended to work. 

It was quite unfortunate, then, that today, a day that was finally happy for the workers of Coffee Prince, was the day that Arthur received an emergency call from the hospital. Fate chose just the perfect moments to dump terrible news on a person, didn’t it? 

It was Arthur’s mother, Ygraine. She had collapsed, Arthur told them, as he gathered his sparse belongings and fled Coffee Prince. 

“There cannot be good news to bear with that,” Gaius said solemnly, as soon as the doors swung shut. 

Merlin finished up the shift that day with a heavy heart. She had spent the past few hours wondering how both Arthur and his mother were coping, and whether this was something serious or life threatening that the Pendragon family would have to deal with. For Merlin, there was no other place to go after work besides Arthur’s flat. 

“How are things, Arthur?” she asked, as soon as she entered, using the spare key under the mat outside. “How’s your mum?” 

“She has stage three breast cancer,” he said solemnly, not bothering to sugar-coat it. “Not as bad as stage four, but there’s still a high perfect death rate for the five years after treatment.” 

“Arthur…” Merlin began, not knowing what to say. Apologising for something she couldn’t control would obviously do no good. She crossed the living room, coming to sit on the sofa across from him. 

“I can’t believe that I never noticed that she was so ill,” Arthur said roughly, his voice cracking on the last word. “I have no idea how this happened. If only I had been a better son, if I had spent more time with her, I would have known earlier myself. Surely I could have prevented this, somehow, if I had been more attentive. It’s my f-” 

“No, it isn’t, Arthur,” Merlin said strictly. “Don’t let yourself carry the blame for something out of your control.” 

“I really hate myself right now,” Arthur continued. The sadness and self-deprecation in his voice pierced Merlin’s heart. “I never cared about the future, never once suspected that the careless way I lived all these years was wrong. It was incredibly selfish of me.” 

“Arthur,” Merlin asked after a moment. She swallowed, took a deep breath. “Do you want me to make you feel better?” 

Arthur turned to her, uncomprehending. His eyes were distant, far away. He was obviously in a different place right now. Still, when Merlin rose to her feet and approached him, his eyes tracked her movements. 

She placed her palms on both of his cheeks, bent over, and placed her lips to his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is unbeta-ed.


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